{"id":59004,"date":"2025-12-02T22:40:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T22:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/59004\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T22:40:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T22:40:17","slug":"pete-hegseth-didnt-order-killing-of-survivors-of-september-boat-strike-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/59004\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Hegseth didn’t order killing of survivors of September boat strike: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the deadly Sept. 2 military strike<\/a> on a suspected drug-running vessel<\/a> in the Caribbean Sea, but did not direct the killing of any survivors<\/a> of the initial attack, according to a new report.<\/p>\n

The New York Times, citing five US officials, reported Tuesday that Hegseth\u2019s initial order to destroy the boat, its alleged drug cargo<\/a> and anyone on board did not specify what should happen if survivors remained.<\/p>\n

Adm. Frank Bradley, the head of US Special Operations Command, ultimately signed off on both the initial strike and several follow-up strikes that killed 11 people.<\/p>\n

Pete Hegseth\u2019s initial order to destroy the boat, its alleged drug cargo and anyone on board did not specify what should happen if survivors remained, according to a New York Times report. AP<\/p>\n

The Washington Post reported Friday that the subsequent strike, which targeted two survivors of the initial hit, was in direct response to Hegseth\u2019s order to \u201ckill everybody\u201d on board the vessel. <\/p>\n

The Times sources insisted that Hegseth did not give Bradley any orders at all during the operation and was not aware in real time that passengers were clinging to the wreckage.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narcoterrorist<\/a> groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war,\u201d White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday. \u201cWith respect to the strikes in question on Sept. 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Adm. Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bradley, Leavitt added, \u201cworked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPete said he did not order the death of those two men,\u201d President Trump told reporters Sunday night aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. \u201cAnd I believe him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The GOP-led House and Senate Armed Services Committee have begun investigations into the Sept. 2 strike, which some lawmakers have suggested could be a war crime if the execution of survivors was ordered.<\/p>\n

Adm. Frank Bradley, the head of US Special Operations Command, ultimately signed off on both the initial strike and several follow-up strikes that killed 11 people. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

A video posted by Hegseth on his X account on November 10, 2025, shows what the war secretary says is a lethal strike on a vessel carrying narcotics in the eastern Pacific Ocean on November 9, 2025. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s X Account\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a long-held rule that survivors of the ship attack are no longer combatants, and an air crew member in a parachute is no longer a combatant,\u201d Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a former member of the US Air Force\u2019s Judge Advocate General\u2019s Corps, told CNN Monday night.\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019re out of the fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what the facts are, but that\u2019s general law. We\u2019ll see what the facts are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"War Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the deadly Sept. 2 military strike on a suspected drug-running vessel in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[30718,9,11,10,1351,23289,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-59004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-drug-cartels","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news","12":"tag-pete-hegseth","13":"tag-strikes","14":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}