❓WHAT HAPPENED: The Pentagon announced on Friday that the U.S. military executed a strike on a boat suspected of transporting illegal narcotics, resulting in four fatalities.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: U.S. Navy Admiral Frank Bradley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The strike occurred on Thursday in the eastern Pacific.
🎯IMPACT: The legality of these military actions is being challenged by Congressional Democrats, some of whom have claimed they are tantamount to war crimes.
The Pentagon has announced another strike by the U.S. military on a vessel carrying illegal drugs, resulting in the deaths of four narco-terrorists. Notably, the operation occurred in the eastern Pacific, while most of the strikes since September have targeted cartel drug boats in the Caribbean.
On Thursday, Admiral Frank Bradley—the head of the United States Special Operations Command—and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine appeared before a closed-door joint meeting of the House Armed Services Committee and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on Thursday to brief lawmakers on the recent strikes. A particular focus of the briefing was the initial September 2 strike, with Democrats and The Washington Post falsely claiming Secretary of War Pete Hegseth authorized a so-called “double tap strike” on a group of survivors with the order to “kill everybody.”
However, Admiral Bradley told the joint committee hearing that he was the authorizing official for both the initial strike and secondary strike, and that Sec. Hegseth never gave an order to “kill everybody.” Importantly, the Special Operations Command chief provided a video showing the two cartel operatives who survived the initial strike climb onto the wreckage and begin gathering the vessel’s cargo. Bradley stated that it appeared the two survivors were attempting to contact other nearby cartel boats in an effort to salvage the drug shipment. At this juncture, the survivors were deemed to be “still in the fight” and valid targets.
Notably, secondary strikes are not against the rules of engagement, and the practice saw widespread use under the Obama-Biden government. Still, Congressional Democrats continue to insist the follow-up attack was unwarranted. “What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service,” Representative Jim Himes (D-CT), the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said after the briefing. He conceded, “Yes, they were carrying drugs,” but insisted, “They were not in the position to continue their mission in any way.”
On Dec. 4, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and… pic.twitter.com/pqksvxM3HP
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) December 4, 2025
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