Bipartisan scrutiny has intensified in Washington as lawmakers from both parties demand answers over a controversial U.S. military operation in the Caribbean that left no survivors aboard an alleged drug smuggling vessel. The September 2, 2025, incident, which included a follow-up missile strike on survivors clinging to the wreckage, has triggered rare unease within Congress and prompted multiple investigations into the legality and chain of command behind the operation.
The controversy erupted after The Washington Post reported on November 29, 2025, that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had verbally ordered the military to “kill everybody” on board the targeted boat. According to the report, after an initial missile strike, a surveillance drone spotted two survivors. In line with the alleged order, the military launched a second strike, killing the remaining men. The report sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill, with lawmakers returning from Thanksgiving recess to a political firestorm.
“There needs to be an investigation,” Senator Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, declared at a press conference on December 1, 2025. Kelly, a former astronaut and Navy combat pilot, has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s approach to military law, and on Monday, he doubled down. “We need to pull some of these members of DOD and the military into the Armed Services committees in the House and the Senate.”
Kelly’s calls were echoed by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who told reporters, “There will be bipartisan investigations in both the House and in the Senate in order to determine whether war crimes were committed, and either U.S. law or international law or both, were violated.” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., went a step further, demanding the Pentagon release tapes said to be in its possession. “What we need right now more than anything else is the truth and the facts, which is precisely what Secretary Hegseth has refused to give,” Schumer stated on the Senate floor. “There are tapes in the possession of the Department of Defense that would show exactly what happened during these military strikes.”
The bipartisan outcry included Republican Armed Services Committee chairs and ranking members. Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and House Armed Services Chairman Mike D. Rogers, R-Ala., along with their Democratic counterparts, announced their panels would investigate the so-called double-tap strike. The oversight effort was reinforced by statements from Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who both pledged to get to the bottom of the chain of command and legality of the operation.
On December 1, 2025, the White House confirmed that a second strike did occur on September 2 but denied that Secretary Hegseth had issued an order to kill everyone aboard. Instead, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that U.S. Special Operations Command chief Adm. Frank Bradley had ordered the second strike, “worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.”
Further complicating the picture, Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with Armed Services committee leaders on December 1. According to his office, the discussion focused on “counter-narcoterrorism operations in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility; addressing the intent and legality of missions to disrupt illicit trafficking networks which threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere.” Caine emphasized his “trust and confidence in the experienced commanders at every echelon and his pride in those serving in the Joint Force.”
Republican lawmakers, typically strong supporters of the military, have also raised concerns about the reported actions. Rep. Michael R. Turner, R-Ohio, a member of the Armed Services Committee, told CBS’s “Face the Nation,” “Obviously, if that occurred, that would be very serious. And I agree that that would be an illegal act.” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a former Air Force officer, expressed similar reservations on ABC’s “This Week,” saying, “I don’t think he would be foolish enough to make this decision to say, ‘kill everybody,’ ‘kill the survivors’ because that’s a clear violation of the law of war.”
The military’s own manual for the laws of war is explicit, citing “orders to fire upon the shipwrecked” as a “clearly illegal” order. This has added fuel to the debate, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle warning of the grave implications for U.S. service members and America’s standing under international law.
Amidst the growing scrutiny, the Pentagon announced it is also investigating Senator Kelly for a video he made with five other Democratic lawmakers, all with national security backgrounds, reminding service members of their obligation not to follow illegal orders. Kelly clarified at his December 1 press conference that the video was not prompted by the Caribbean operation but by longstanding concerns over Secretary Hegseth and President Trump’s history of disparaging military law. “If what seems to happen actually happened, I’m really worried about our servicemembers,” Kelly said. “I was talking about this from the beginning of this operation, that the thing that I am most concerned about is the very difficult situations that this secretary of Defense is going to put service members into, and it’s because this guy is so unqualified for the job.”
The investigation is moving quickly. On December 1, it was announced that U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Frank Bradley will provide a classified briefing to key lawmakers on December 4, 2025. The briefing, as reported by the Associated Press, will cover the details of the military operation in the Caribbean, including the follow-up strike that killed survivors. This classified session is part of the wider congressional oversight effort, as lawmakers seek to clarify the facts, determine accountability, and assess whether U.S. or international law was violated.
Senate Armed Services Chairman Wicker told reporters Monday that he had already spoken to both Hegseth and Caine and expected to speak to Bradley as well. “We’re going to do a vigorous oversight,” Wicker said. “It’s a very serious charge, and we’ll find out if there’s anything to it.”
The stakes are high. The incident touches on sensitive issues of military ethics, civilian oversight of the armed forces, and the U.S. commitment to the rule of law—even in the murky waters of counter-narcoterrorism operations. As lawmakers prepare for Bradley’s classified briefing, the nation waits for answers, with the potential fallout reverberating from the Pentagon to the highest levels of government.
With both parties united in their demand for transparency and accountability, the coming days will test the military’s openness and the willingness of Congress to assert its oversight role. The facts, as they emerge, may well reshape how the U.S. conducts its overseas operations—and how it holds its leaders to account when the fog of war lifts.