Secret Video Sparks War‑Crimes Inquiry Into Defence Secretary After Speedboat "Double Tap"

A speedboat fills the frame, its four outboard engines carving a frothy wake across open water. A sudden flash follows and the vessel erupts in flames. President Donald Trump posted a 29‑second clip of that strike online in September, claiming the missile strike killed 11 "narco terrorists" and provoking immediate legal and political questions about the use of lethal force against suspected drug smugglers at sea.

What has ignited a broader controversy, however, is footage that continues after the 29‑second clip. Lawmakers were recently shown roughly 40 minutes of unedited video, and those who have viewed the full material say it shows two shirtless survivors clinging to wreckage and apparently raising their arms in a gesture consistent with surrender.

More than 2,000 miles away at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Adm. Frank Bradley is reported to have authorised a second, follow‑on strike — a controversial so‑called "double tap." Exactly why Adm. Bradley ordered the follow‑up strike and what instructions he received from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth are now under intense scrutiny.

Legal and Political Fallout

International humanitarian law protects combatants who are hors de combat — incapacitated, shipwrecked or otherwise outside the fight — and deliberately targeting such people can amount to a war crime. Critics say the unedited footage raises the prospect that the disabled crew were no longer a threat when the second strike occurred.

"The order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat," Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told colleagues, calling for further investigation.

The Pentagon has rejected assertions that Secretary Hegseth ordered "no survivors." Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, called such accounts "completely false." Military leaders, including Adm. Bradley and Gen. Dan Caine, briefed congressional committees and played the full video in a closed session while answering questions about who authorised what.

Officials told lawmakers they believed the wrecked hull remained buoyant because it still contained bags of cocaine, which, they argued, could have allowed survivors to return to Venezuela or radio for help and resume trafficking. Adm. Bradley reportedly said he consulted military lawyers before ordering the follow‑on strike — a key point in the legal debate.

Partisan Reactions and Wider Context

Republicans and Democrats drew different conclusions from the footage. Senator Tom Cotton, Republican chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the video showed survivors "trying to flip a boat — loaded with drugs — bound for the United States back over so they could stay in the fight." Democrats insist on public release of the full unedited video and have called for accountability, including calls for Mr. Hegseth to resign.

Mr. Trump has emphasised stopping drug smuggling as a pillar of his Latin America policy and has publicly defended Mr. Hegseth, saying releasing the footage would be "no problem." The administration has shifted from traditional Coast Guard interdiction and boarding operations to designating criminal groups such as Tren de Aragua as a "foreign terrorist organisation," a step the White House argues gives broader authority to use military force against their vessels.

Mr. Hegseth has weathered other controversies since taking office, including reports of heavy drinking and a recent inquiry into a "Signalgate" episode in which he allegedly shared sensitive attack plans on an unclassified app. At the Reagan National Defense Forum he defended the strikes: "If you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you." He denied allegations that he ordered unlawful killings: "You don’t walk in and say, ‘Kill them all’. It’s just patently ridiculous."

The episode has sharpened an already heated debate about the rules of engagement, oversight of military operations against non‑state criminal groups, and the balance between aggressive counter‑trafficking measures and compliance with international law. Lawmakers continue to press for the full public release of the unedited footage and for transparent answers about who authorised each strike.