Lawmakers Divided After Admiral’s Briefings on Drug Boat Strikes

The ongoing congressional investigation is seeking to determine whether the Department of War acted lawfully in the strikes if survivors were targeted.

U.S. Navy Adm. Frank M. Bradley, accompanied by Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (R), walks to a meeting with senators on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 4, 2025. Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo

Congress on Dec. 4 hosted classified briefings on a deadly U.S. strike of an alleged drug boat in the South Caribbean in September that killed two survivors of a previous strike, leaving lawmakers split in their reactions to the Trump administration’s increasing military buildup near Venezuela.

Navy Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley testified to lawmakers that War Secretary Pete Hegseth did not give a “kill them all” order in the strike, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told reporters on Dec. 4 after leaving a classified briefing.