Overview
- Washington Post reporting says Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a verbal order to kill all passengers after a Sept. 2 strike off Trinidad, and a follow-on strike killed two survivors clinging to wreckage.
- Hegseth publicly rejected the account as “fake news,” and Pentagon officials also denied the allegation while asserting the maritime strikes comply with U.S. and international law.
- The Senate and House Armed Services Committees, led by bipartisan pairs of lawmakers, announced inquiries seeking a full accounting of the reported follow-on strike and the broader operation.
- Since early September, the U.S. has struck at least 22 boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing more than 80 people, as officials label targets “narco‑terrorists” but provide limited corroborating evidence to Congress.
- Legal experts and former military lawyers say an order to kill defenseless survivors could constitute murder or a war crime, and separate reporting highlights intelligence gaps and the loss of evidence when boats are destroyed.