War Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday forcefully rejected allegations reported by the Washington Post that he had ordered U.S. forces to kill all individuals aboard Venezuelan narcotics-trafficking boats targeted in recent kinetic strikes in the Caribbean Sea.
Hegseth addressed the claims during a panel conversation with Fox News Correspondent Lucas Tomlinson at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, where he delivered the event’s keynote address.
During the discussion, Tomlinson asked Hegseth whether he had ever instructed U.S. troops to kill everyone on board the boats during counter-drug operations.
Hegseth immediately criticized the report. “Is anybody here from The Washington Post? I don’t know where you get your sources, but they suck. Of course not,” he said.
Tomlinson then asked: “Did you at any time say that everybody on board should be killed?”
Hegseth responded: “Is anybody here from The Washington Post? I don’t know where you get your sources, but they suck. Of course not. Anybody that’s been in the situation room or there’s or has been in the war room there, the Secretary’s office knows you don’t walk in and say, ‘Kill them all!’ It’s just patently ridiculous. It’s meant to create a cartoon of me and the decisions that we make and how we make them. Just ridiculous. The chairman and Admiral Bradley and everybody shot it down immediately because anybody that knows, knows that’s not how things go. There’s a very defined process, specific criteria, go, no, go, yes, no, lawyers, Intel, analysts, everything. And then after that, you simply say, ‘cleared hot’ or not.”
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Hegseth also discussed the planning and operational processes behind the strikes, including intelligence verification of targets.
He suggested that, after further internal review, the Defense Department may release the full video of the September 2 strike in which U.S. forces hit the same vessel twice.
That operation has drawn criticism from opponents who claim the incident was unlawful.
The Secretary has faced scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers and various media outlets following the November 29 Washington Post report alleging that he ordered troops to “kill everybody” on board narcotics-trafficking vessels and authorized a second strike against survivors.
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) described the operations as “blatantly illegal,” stating, “Mark my words: It may take some time, but Americans will be prosecuted for this, either as a war crime or outright murder.”
According to the report, anonymous sources claimed that Hegseth had given a verbal order “to kill everybody” during the September 2 strike carried out by U.S. special operations forces against traffickers moving narcotics toward the United States.
Eleven designated narcoterrorists were killed in that operation.
President Donald Trump posted footage from the strike on September 2, saying, “Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!”
The controversy comes as several Democratic members of Congress call on U.S. service members to refuse orders issued by President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, arguing that the operations are unlawful.
The calls have generated significant reaction among lawmakers, military veterans, and national security experts.
Hegseth responded on Friday to what he termed “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting,” stating that the operations comply fully with U.S. and international legal standards.
“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command,” he said.
As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.
As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically…
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) November 28, 2025
According to prior reports, U.S. forces have continued the mission and recently conducted the 22nd strike against narcotics-trafficking boats in the region.
Nearly 100 designated foreign terrorist narcotics traffickers have been killed in total during these operations.
