by Our Correspondent in Washington DC
A recent investigation by The Washington Post has revealed that a Sept. 2 U.S. military strike in the Caribbean — led by the elite SEAL Team 6 — was executed under a direct verbal order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth instructing forces to “kill everybody” aboard a suspected drug-smuggling vessel. The strike, which marked the first major action in the Trump administration’s escalated campaign against narcotraffickers, has ignited controversy for its legality, transparency, and adherence to the laws of armed conflict.
According to officials with direct knowledge of the operation, U.S. surveillance aircraft tracked an 11-man go-fast boat off the coast of Trinidad. Convinced the crew was ferrying drugs, commanders launched a missile that engulfed the vessel in flames. As the smoke cleared on the live drone feed, two men were seen clinging to the burning wreckage — the only survivors of the initial blast.
Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, then leading Joint Special Operations Command, ordered a second strike to eliminate the survivors, following Hegseth’s directive that no one be left alive. The second missile killed the men in the water. The administration later released a brief, edited video showing only the first explosion and omitting the follow-up strike that killed the survivors.
Legal specialists and former military officials told the Post that the operation may violate both U.S. and international law. Todd Huntley, a former Special Operations legal adviser, argued that since the U.S. is not officially at war with drug traffickers, using lethal force on suspects who pose no imminent threat “amounts to murder.” Huntley added that even in wartime, an order to kill survivors who are incapable of resistance constitutes a “no-quarter” directive — a recognized war crime.
The Pentagon publicly dismissed the reporting as “completely false,” but multiple individuals confirmed to the Post that SEAL Team 6 led the strike and that Hegseth’s kill-all directive was known among mission commanders.
Since the Sept. 2 incident, internal data reviewed by The Washington Post shows that U.S. forces have carried out at least 22 additional maritime strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing more than 70 suspected smugglers. Some officials from the DEA and U.S. military cast doubt on whether all those killed were traffickers, noting that such boats sometimes transport migrants or fishermen. In at least one case, Colombia’s president has accused the U.S. of killing an innocent fisherman.
Briefings to the White House and Congress claimed the second strike on Sept. 2 was meant to sink the burning boat and remove a navigation hazard. Several lawmakers rejected that explanation as implausible. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a Marine Corps veteran, called the killing of survivors “blatantly illegal,” warning that American personnel involved “will be prosecuted for this, either as a war crime or outright murder.”
In response to internal concerns, Pentagon protocols were later updated to emphasize capturing survivors when possible. Some subsequent operations have resulted in detentions rather than fatalities, but the administration continues to withhold unedited footage of all strikes, prompting concerns about transparency and accountability.
Experts cited in the Washington Post report say the lack of clear oversight and the use of lethal force far from a declared battlefield risk eroding legal norms governing U.S. military operations. The Sept. 2 strike — driven by an order to “kill them all” — now stands at the center of a growing debate over the limits of American power in counter-narcotics missions abroad.
