House Speaker Mike Johnson said he views the U.S. military’s Sept. 2 follow-on strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat as lawful and appropriate after reviewing classified video and receiving a briefing from the mission commander, Adm. Frank Bradley. Johnson said two men seen after the initial strike appeared able-bodied and were not injured, and that the decision to strike again was made with proper legal and intelligence vetting.
Only a small group of congressional leaders — the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate armed services and intelligence committees — have been shown the footage. Lawmakers who have seen the video agree that two men survived the first attack and were clinging to wreckage and waving, but they disagree over the survivors’ condition and intent. Some Democrats and legal experts argue a second strike that killed shipwrecked survivors could amount to a war crime, saying the gestures might have been pleas for help or attempts to show surrender. Republicans who reviewed the material say the men looked uninjured and were signaling a nearby vessel to recover narcotics and continue trafficking, which would make them lawful targets.
According to Johnson, Bradley consulted a military lawyer who was present during the operation before authorizing the follow-on strike that killed the two men. Johnson described the individuals as drug runners attempting to recover the contents of a capsized, narcotics-filled boat rather than helpless castaways, and said U.S. intelligence showed another vessel was nearby and moving toward the scene. He said the men appeared to be signaling that vessel so they could resume their operation.
Johnson called Bradley an honorable officer and said legal counsel was consulted at every step of the operation, including before the secondary strikes. He added he is fully confident the mission complied with law and established protocol. The episode has prompted continuing debate in Congress and among legal experts over the interpretation of the footage and the legal and ethical lines governing follow-on strikes against survivors at sea.