“Kill Them All”: Inside the Trump-era U.S. strike on a Caribbean drug vessel

According to the newspaper, On September 2, 2025, a U.S. Navy special operations team carried out a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean, suspected by intelligence analysts of transporting drugs.

According to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the operation, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to “kill everyone” on board. The missile struck the ship from the coast of Trinidad, igniting a fire that engulfed it from bow to stern. Commanders monitored the blaze in real-time via drone footage, only to discover that two men were still alive, clinging to the wreckage.

The Special Operations commander overseeing the attack ordered a second strike, explicitly following Hegseth’s directive, killing the two survivors in the water. This sequence, referred to as a “double-tap,” was reportedly the opening salvo in the Trump administration’s campaign against suspected drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere. The strike marked a dramatic shift from traditional U.S. counterdrug operations, which historically involved boarding vessels, seizing narcotics, and detaining suspects for prosecution.

The lethal nature of the strike has drawn sharp criticism from current and former U.S. officials and experts in the laws of war. They argue that the alleged traffickers posed no imminent threat to the United States and were not engaged in an “armed conflict” with the U.S. Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer who advised Special Operations forces, called the killings “murder” and suggested that issuing orders to kill any individuals unable to defend themselves constitutes a war crime.

The Pentagon has defended the operation, with Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell dismissing the report as “completely false,” describing the strikes as part of a campaign to “dismantle narcoterrorism and protect the homeland from deadly drugs.” Hegseth himself later appeared to acknowledge the strikes in social media posts, describing them as “lethal, kinetic strikes” and asserting they were lawful under both U.S. and international law. He wrote, “We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.”

The operation was led by SEAL Team 6, formally known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, under the command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, overseeing the operation from Fort Bragg, justified the follow-on strike by claiming the survivors could theoretically alert other traffickers to retrieve the vessel and its cargo, thus maintaining their status as legitimate targets. Bradley has since been promoted to head U.S. Special Operations Command, the parent organization of JSOC.

In the weeks following the September 2 strike, the Pentagon conducted at least 22 additional strikes on suspected traffickers in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, including one semisubmersible vessel. These operations reportedly killed at least 71 alleged traffickers.

Protocols were later revised to prioritize rescuing survivors when feasible, though it remains unclear who authorized these changes. In some cases, survivors were captured and returned to Colombia or Ecuador, while in others, they were left to foreign authorities or went missing.

The Trump administration has classified the campaign as part of a “non-international armed conflict” against “designated terrorist organizations,” relying on a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion that personnel acting under orders consistent with the laws of war would not face prosecution.

Critics, however, argue that these broad designations are misleading. No specific evidence has been publicly presented linking all 11 individuals on the first vessel to drug trafficking, and some may have been migrants or crew members unrelated to criminal activity. Colombia’s president has accused the U.S. of killing an innocent fisherman during one such strike.

The strikes have sparked congressional scrutiny. Senators Roger Wicker and Jack Reed, leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee, vowed “vigorous oversight” of the Pentagon’s actions following the publication of reports. House members, including Rep. Seth Moulton, have described the Pentagon’s justifications as absurd, emphasizing that claiming wreckage as a hazard to navigation does not legally justify killing survivors.

Critics also point to significant gaps in publicly released footage of the attacks. While redacted drone videos show the initial strike, no footage of the follow-up strike killing survivors has been released, making independent verification impossible. Some congressional aides allege the Pentagon misrepresented the nature of the operations in classified briefings, leading to frustration among lawmakers seeking accountability.

Legal experts and human rights advocates have warned of potential future prosecutions. Dan Kovalik, an attorney representing families affected by the strikes, announced plans to file claims against the U.S. government with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, asserting that the operations are morally and legally indefensible.

The strike also represents a broader shift in U.S. counterdrug strategy. Traditionally, interdiction relied on boarding ships, gathering intelligence, and using legal channels to prosecute traffickers. By contrast, the new operations involve preemptive, lethal attacks based on intelligence assessments of suspected drug activity. Hegseth has publicly justified this approach by naming the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as the target, describing them as a “narcoterrorist organization” attempting to poison the U.S. with illicit drugs. However, specific identities of the victims and verification of their alleged criminal activity have not been disclosed.