Updated on: December 4, 2025 / 12:32 AM EST / CBS News
Two people who survived the U.S. military’s early September strike on an alleged drug-carrying vessel were attempting to climb back onto the boat before it was hit a second time, a source familiar with the matter told CBS News. The source said the survivors appeared to be trying to salvage some of the drugs, were in communication with others, and that other boats were in the vicinity that could have picked them up.
ABC News was first to report additional details on the strike, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted a video of ABC’s report on X.
The Sept. 2 mission — the first of more than 20 attacks on alleged drug boats by the Trump administration in recent months — has drawn bipartisan scrutiny since last week, when The Washington Post reported the military carried out at least two strikes on the same boat in the Caribbean, killing a pair of survivors from the initial hit. The Post alleged the second strike occurred after Hegseth said everybody onboard should be killed.
The White House confirmed there was a second strike but denied Hegseth ordered it. Hegseth has said the mission commander, Adm. Mitch Bradley, made the decision and argued the follow-up strike was legal and justified.
Democrats and some legal experts have alleged the second strike may have been a war crime under U.S. and international law if the military targeted survivors. A Pentagon manual on the law of war states that “wounded, sick, or shipwrecked” combatants no longer pose a threat and should not be attacked.
Even before these revelations, critics raised legal questions about the campaign of boat strikes, arguing the president lacks authority to order military operations against alleged traffickers without congressional approval. Historically, the U.S. has typically interdicted drug smugglers at sea and treated them as criminals rather than combatants. The Trump administration contends the strikes are lawful because the U.S. is engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels it views as terrorist organizations.
Lawmakers from both parties have vowed to investigate the Sept. 2 strike. Adm. Bradley is due to testify before Congress on Thursday and is expected to show video from Sept. 2 and explain his decisions, a source familiar with the matter told CBS News. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is expected to accompany Bradley for his congressional testimony.
