Both the House and Senate have launched investigations into a reported second strike on a suspected drug ship in the Caribbean last September that killed survivors of the first strike.
According to report from The Washington PostOn Sept. 2, citing “two people with direct knowledge of the operation,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth allegedly gave a verbal order to kill everyone aboard the suspected drug vessel, the first strike of nearly two dozen other vessels in the region since that day. Additionally, The Post said its reporting was “based on interviews and accounts from seven people familiar with the Sept. 2 strike and the entire operation.”
The Post reported that after two survived the first strike, the commander leading the attack reportedly ordered a second strike to kill them.
NBC News has not independently confirmed The Washington Post's report.
The top Republican and Democrat on the GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee said in a statement Friday that the committee is aware of the recent reports.
“The committee sent a request to [Department of Defense]“We will conduct careful oversight to determine the facts surrounding these circumstances,” Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, and Jack Reed, D-Md., said in a statement.
The Republican-led House Armed Services Committee followed suit on Saturday, with Representatives Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Adam Smith, D-Wash., releasing a joint statement in which they said the House committee is “committed to providing strong oversight of the Department of Defense's military operations in the Caribbean.”
“We take seriously reports of subsequent strikes against suspected drug vessels in the Southern Command area and are taking bipartisan action to obtain a full accounting of the operation in question,” Rogers and Smith wrote.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment Saturday night about the committees' statements or The Post's reporting.
However, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told The Post that “this entire story is completely false.” He told the newspaper that “the ongoing operations to eliminate narco-terrorism and protect the Motherland from deadly drugs have been a resounding success.”
Hegseth published on X On Friday night it said the strikes were intended to be “lethal, kinetic strikes”.
“The stated intent is to stop deadly drugs, destroy drug ships, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is associated with a designated terrorist organization,” Hegseth wrote.
“Our current operations in the Caribbean are legal under both US and international law, all actions comply with the laws of armed conflict and are approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command,” he added.
The committees' announcements come as President Donald Trump's administration increases pressure on Venezuela as Trump mulls military action against the country after nearly two dozen known strikes on courts. in the region, which killed at least 82 people. Trump on Saturday morning stated that Venezuelan airspace should be considered “closed.”
Strikes raised concerns in Congress regarding the lack of information from administration officials. Trump signaled last month that his administration will not seek congressional approval for attacking drug dealers, saying, “I think we'll just kill the people who bring drugs into our country.”
“We're going to kill them. They'll be dead,” Trump added.
