'If you bring drug to this country...': Hegseth defends boat strike citing Trump's powers amid mounting pressure

Amid intense backlash over the strikes on alleged drug-boats in the Caribbean and killing of survivors, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that US President Donald Trump has the power to take military action “as he sees fit.” Insisting that no international laws have been violated, Hegseth declared that boats bringing drugs to the United States will be targeted again and again. This comes even as he faced massive scrutiny over Sep 2 drug boat strike and killing of survivors.

‘We will sink you:’ What Hegseth said

Speaking at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth said, "If you’re working for a designated terrorist organisation and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you. Let there be no doubt about it." He added, “President Trump can and will take decisive military action as he sees fit to defend our nation’s interests. Let no country on earth doubt that for a moment.” Hegseth also compared US action to that of action taken after 9/11 terror attack and alleged smugglers equivalent to Al-Qaida operatives. He positioned Trump as Reagan’s "true and rightful heir" on foreign policy. “The war department will not be distracted by democracy building, interventionism, undefined wars, regime change, climate change, woke moralizing and feckless nation building,” he added.

Earlier he had said that he had watched the first strike in September in real time but did not see survivors in the water or the second lethal strike. Calling the follow-up strike a "fog of war," Hegseth put the blame on one of his admiral named Frank Bradley, who ordered the strike. "Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat...We have his back," Hegseth said. Hegseth had earlier brushed aside the reports about the second strike as “fake news.” The White House on Dec 1 confirmed that US admiral Frank Bradley was the one who authorised to conduct the second kinetic strike.

Also read: US admiral ordered second strike on drug boat survivors? White House confirms what Hegseth called ‘fake news’

Trump administration under fire over drug-boat strike

Nevertheless, calls are now being made for Hegseth to testify under oath about the second strike. The calls have grown stronger after a CNN report claimed that admiral Bradley told lawmakers that the boat was heading to link up with a larger vessel, headed for Suriname, a country in South America to the east of Venezuela. While Trump on Sep 2 wrote in a post on Truth Social that “strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while sharing report of the admiral's testimony, told that the alleged drug boat targeted was "probably headed to Trinidad or some other country in the Caribbean." Earlier, responding to reports claiming that Hegseth ordered the killing of survivors, Trump expressed his “great confidence” that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth did not give a spoken order to kill all crew members.

Also read: Did Hegseth order killing of drug-boat survivors amid Venezuela conflict? Trump breaks silence

The Washington Post and CNN had reported that the US troops were given a directive from Hegseth to kill everyone on-board the alleged drug vessels. The Post reported that on September 2, the US military conducted a follow-up strike after seeing two survivors of an initial attack. The report added that following the operation, protocols were changed to rescue any survivors.