Overview
- At the Reagan National Defense Forum, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth compared suspected traffickers to al-Qaeda and vowed to keep sinking boats tied to designated terrorist groups, declaring, “we will find you and we will sink you.”
- Hegseth said he personally authorized and watched the initial Sept. 2 strike off Venezuela and stated he would have made the same decision as Adm. Frank Bradley on the follow-up strike that killed two survivors.
- He again denied ever issuing a “kill everybody” order reported by the Washington Post, while the White House has acknowledged a second missile was used and attributed that decision to Bradley.
- He would not commit to releasing unedited video of the follow-up strike, saying the Pentagon is reviewing it to protect sources and methods, even as President Trump has signaled openness to making the footage public.
- The Pentagon reports 22 strikes and at least 87 deaths since September; lawmakers who viewed classified footage gave conflicting accounts of the Sept. 2 follow-up, and a recent Pentagon IG report faulted Hegseth’s use of Signal for operational planning.