Admiral Mitch Bradley to update Senate committee on boat collisions

Dec. 4 Adm. Mitch Bradley, the military official identified by the White House as responsible for ordering a second strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean, is scheduled to brief Congress on Thursday regarding the operation that resulted in the deaths of two survivors from the initial attack.

According to unnamed sources cited by ABC News and CNN, the briefing will be part of a bipartisan investigation into the September 2 strikes targeting the vessel. Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated that Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will also provide testimony to lawmakers, Politico reported.

An insider told Politico that committee members will be shown footage of the strikes. Recent scrutiny has surrounded Bradley and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth following reports by The Washington Post that the U.S. military conducted a second attack on a boat suspected of carrying illegal drugs. The first strike left only two survivors, who were subsequently killed in the second strike.

Hegseth has denied issuing a verbal order to "kill everybody" in the attack, attributing the second strike decision to Bradley. White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt stated that Hegseth authorized the operation, which Bradley executed as head of the Joint Special Operations Command at the time.

Both Democratic and Republican senators have questioned the decision to target the disabled boat and the remaining survivors, leading to the ongoing Senate Armed Services Committee inquiry, led by Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Reed. We will examine the details of what transpired, especially regarding the second strike, Reed said about the classified hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

During Wednesday's final Cabinet meeting of the year, Hegseth remarked that the Trump administration has "only just begun" targeting suspected drug traffickers at sea, aiming to eliminate so-called "narcoterrorists."

Author: Aiden Foster