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secretary of war Peter Heggs He was harshly critical of the media after media reports said he signed off on a second crackdown on a suspected drug-trafficking ship after the first one left survivors.
The Trump administration has come under renewed scrutiny for its crackdown on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean. washington post It was reported Friday that Hegseth gave verbal orders to kill everyone on board a suspected drug trafficking vessel during a Sept. 2 operation. The second attack was to eliminate the remaining survivors on the ship, The Washington Post reported.
on Monday, White House A second attack was confirmed, but when asked specifically about Hegseth’s instructions, he disputed whether Hegseth had given the original order to ensure that everyone on board was killed.
Hegseth said he watched the first attack live but saw no survivors amid the fire and smoke, and criticized the media coverage.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrives for a news conference at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, June 22, 2025. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
“This is the so-called fog of war. This is what you in the media don’t understand,” Hegseth told reporters at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. “You sit in air-conditioned offices or on Capitol Hill, and you nitpick, and you plant false stories in the Washington Post about the ‘kill them all’ phrase, stories that come from anonymous sources and have no basis in anything, no basis in fact at all. And then you want to throw out really irresponsible terms about American heroes, about the judgments they make.”
Hegseth said that after watching the first strike, he went to a meeting and later learned about the second strike. The White House said Monday that Hegers had authorized Gen. Frank “Mickey” Bradley Bradley ordered and directed the second attack.
At the time of the Sept. 2 attack, Bradley was serving as commander of Joint Special Operations Command, which is part of U.S. Special Operations Command. He is now the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.
Trump says he ‘100 percent’ believes Hegseth denies Venezuelan drug ship attack charges
U.S. Navy Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, the new commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, speaks during the U.S. Special Operations Command’s change of command ceremony in Tampa, Florida, October 3, 2025. (played by Monique Stober)
Heggs said the subsequent crackdown on suspected drug-trafficking vessels was the right decision.
“Admiral Bradley made the right decision, ultimately sinking the ship and neutralizing the threat,” Heggs said Tuesday.
Meanwhile, reports of a second strike have drawn increased attention on Capitol Hill and from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Call for stronger supervisionamid questions about the legality of the strike.
“The committee is committed to providing rigorous oversight of Department of Defense military operations in the Caribbean,” Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Saturday. “We take seriously reports of subsequent attacks on vessels allegedly transporting drugs in the Southern Command area and are taking bipartisan action to gather complete information about the operations.”
President Donald Trump announced on October 14, 2025, that the United States had killed six suspected drug traffickers on a ship in international waters near Venezuela. (The Real Donald Trump/Truth Society)
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The Trump administration’s crackdown on the influx of drugs will continue even as raids in the Caribbean are paused as suspected drug ships become increasingly difficult to find, Heggs said on Tuesday.
“We’re just starting to target narco boats and put narco terrorists at the bottom of the ocean because they’ve been poisoning the American people,” Hegseth said.
The Trump administration has carried out more than 20 strikes against vessels suspected of drug trafficking in the United States. latin american watersand enhanced its Military presence in the Caribbean Aligned with Trump’s goal to combat drug flow into U.S.
