Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is pushing back against growing controversy over a deadly U.S. military operation in the Caribbean, telling reporters Tuesday that he didn't personally watch a disputed second strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel.

The Initial Strike and What Came After

Hegseth confirmed he monitored the first strike on September 2 in real time but didn't remain glued to the screen for what happened next. "I watched that first strike live. As you can imagine, at the Department of War, we got a lot of things to do, so I didn't stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever, where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs," he told reporters at a White House Cabinet meeting, according to The Hill.

He learned about Admiral Frank Bradley's decision to order a follow-on strike on the wrecked boat a "couple" hours after the fact. The vessel was already engulfed in flames and smoke from the initial attack, Hegseth said, making it impossible to see whether anyone survived. "It was exploded in fire or smoke. You can't see anything," he explained, describing the situation as "the fog of war."

Denying the "Kill Everybody" Order

The Washington Post earlier reported, citing unnamed officials, that Hegseth gave a verbal order to "kill everybody" on board—a claim he flatly denies. He vigorously defended Bradley, the U.S. Special Operations Command chief who approved the second strike, saying the admiral "made the correct decision" to sink the boat and eliminate the threat.

Legal and military experts aren't so sure. Pointing to Pentagon guidance, they told the Associated Press that attacking shipwrecked survivors can violate both peacetime and wartime law—a significant legal wrinkle for an operation the administration insists was lawful self-defense.

A Broader Campaign Under Scrutiny

U.S. officials say the September 2 strike killed 11 suspected "narco-terrorists" linked to Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang. But it's part of something much bigger: Since early September, U.S. forces have conducted at least 20 strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing more than 75 people, according to Justice Department disclosures.

The White House continues to defend the operations as lawful, though even President Donald Trump has expressed some ambivalence. He said he "wouldn't have wanted" a follow-up strike and is "looking into" what happened—hardly a ringing endorsement of the decision-making chain.

Congressional Pressure Mounts

Bipartisan lawmakers are demanding answers. Some Democrats are calling the second strike a potential war crime and urging Hegseth to testify publicly. Congress has launched multiple oversight efforts into the boat campaign, and the Justice Department has reportedly drafted a legal opinion aimed at shielding U.S. personnel from prosecution over the strikes.

The controversy highlights the messy intersection of counter-drug operations, military force, and international law—especially when things unfold in what officials call the fog of war but critics see as a potentially illegal escalation against defenseless survivors.