Navy admiral who ordered second attack saw boat strike survivors as legitimate targets: Report | World News
Admiral Frank M Bradley, the US Navy official who ordered the controversial second strike on two survivors of a boat that was struck earlier, will testify before lawmakers on Thursday.Reuters, quoting officials, reported that Admiral Bradley ordered the second strike as he saw them as legitimate targets because their vessel was still believed to contain illegal narcotics.
Admiral Bradley to testify
Admiral Bradley was the head of Joint Special Operations Command when he ordered the second strike on two men who were clinging to fragments of their boat, damaged the first airstrike.
Bradley will be joined the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, during the closed-door hearing, Reuters reported.
U.S. Navy Adm. Frank M. Bradley, accompanied Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, right, walks to a meeting with senators on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
US Military’s second strike on survivors
The incident happened in the Caribbean waters on September 2, during the US military’s first-ever targeted strike on alleged drug-trafficking vessels from Venezuela.Story continues below this ad
A total of eleven people were on board the alleged drug-trafficking vessels when it was hit during the operation, which was overseen US Defence Secretary Pete Hegesth.
The strike triggered a massive controversy in the US and internationally after The Washington Post reported about the second strike, claiming that it was carried out on verbal orders of Hegset, who directed to “kill everyone.”
The closed entrance to a secure room is seen where Navy Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, is expected to brief top congressional lawmakers. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
What Hegseth said
Hegset had initially denied the report, calling it “fake news,” but on Monday, the White House admitted that the second strike did take place, and revealed that it was carried out on the order of Admiral Bradley.
Hegseth, who publicly backed Admiral Bradley on Tuesday during the cabinet meeting, said he did not see the second strike.Story continues below this ad
He blamed it on the “fog of war” and stated that Admiral Bradley had the authority to make the decision to eliminate the threat, insing that he supported the officer’s “correct decision”.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lens as President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The Wall Street Journal, citing three Pentagon officials, reported that surveillance video of the operation did not reveal two survivors until an hour after the initial hit, after Hegseth says he stopped monitoring the video feed.
Admiral Bradley is a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations and now leads the US Special Operations Command.
US boat strikes under scanner
The report of the second strike, which is illegal under both US military and international laws, has put the spotlight back on the Trump adminration’s crackdown on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.Story continues below this ad
Since September, the US military has carried out 21 such strikes on 22 alleged drug boats, killing at least 83 people.
Legal experts say the second attack amounts to a crime if the survivors were targeted, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are demanding accountability.
The revelation of the second strike coincides with a lawsuit filed the family of a Colombian fisherman who was killed a US military strike on September 15.
The family of Alejandro Carranza filed the complaint on Tuesday with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, alleging that the US carried out an extrajudicial killing in violation of his human rights.
