Himes: U.S. Didn’t Know Identities Of All 11 People Killed In September Strike — Lawmakers Saw Footage

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said Sunday that the U.S. did not know the identities of every person aboard the first vessel struck in September during an operation the government has described as targeting alleged drug traffickers.

“We might have known one or two, I don’t know, but we certainly didn’t know the identities of all 11. So nobody can characterize who all these people in any of these boats are,” Himes told Margaret Brennan on CBS News’s Face the Nation.

Lawmakers Briefed and Shown Strike Footage

On Thursday, Navy Adm. Frank Bradley and Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine briefed Himes — the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee — and other members of Congress about the strikes. Members of the Armed Services and Intelligence committees from both chambers reviewed video of the operation.

What Happened

The administration says the operation, authorized by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and ordered by Adm. Bradley, ended with 11 people killed in total, including two survivors who were struck after an initial Sept. 2 encounter. The White House has characterized those killed as individuals smuggling drugs into the United States.

Legal and Ethical Concerns

Himes acknowledged that the people aboard the vessel were “almost certainly running drugs,” but stressed they were not legitimate military targets because Congress has not authorized the use of military force in this incident.

“Under the law, if someone has been struck and continues to engage in hostilities, points a gun at you, has a gun, they may be a legitimate target,” Himes said. “But if they are outside of combat, they are not, and attacking them is a violation of the laws of war.”

Himes argued the footage should be released to the public, saying the individuals shown in the video were “barely alive, much less engaging in hostilities.”

Push For Transparency

There is bipartisan support for releasing video from the Sept. 2 incident, including from President Trump. Defense Secretary Hegseth, however, declined on Saturday to commit to making the footage public.

Why this matters: The briefing and the footage raise legal, congressional oversight and transparency questions about how and when U.S. military force is used against nonstate actors in maritime settings.