Pete Hegseth on Saturday doubled down on his defense of US military strikes on alleged drug cartel boats in the Caribbean, arguing that Donald Trump has the power to take military action “as he sees fit” and dismissing concerns that the strikes violate international law.
Hegseth spoke on Saturday at the Ronald Reagan presidential library in Simi Valley, California, amid growing scrutiny over the legality of the attacks and his leadership of the Pentagon.
The defense secretary argued the strikes, which have killed more than 80 people since September, were justified to protect Americans. He compared suspected drug smugglers to al-Qaida terrorists. “If you’re working for a designated terrorist organization and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you. Let there be no doubt about it,” Hegseth said.
“President Trump can and will take decisive military action as he sees fit to defend our nation’s interests. Let no country on earth doubt that for a moment.”
Despite Hegseth’s forceful defense, the Trump administration is facing growing questions over the legality of its anti drug-trafficking operations in the Caribbean, even from some Republicans.
The administration has insisted the nearly two dozen strikes are legal under the rules of war because the US is engaged in armed conflict with fentanyl traffickers operating as part of designated terrorist organizations, including Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and Colombia’s National Liberation Army.
Many legal experts have criticized that rationale, noting that the US is not at war with an armed group in the Caribbean and that the suspected traffickers have not attacked the US, or its assets abroad.
Other concerns include that the alleged smugglers have not been convicted in a court of law; that the US has provided little proof backing up its cartel designations; and that regional experts have pointed out repeatedly that the strikes will do little to actually halt fentanyl smuggling – the drug mostly arrives in the US via Mexico, not on boats via the Caribbean.
Scrutiny of the strikes, and Hegseth’s role, intensified at the end of November, when the Washington Post reported that a strike on 2 September was followed by a second attack targeting two survivors clinging to the wreckage. The commander overseeing the operation, the Post reported, ordered the second strike to comply with instructions from Hegseth to “kill everybody”.
Hegseth has denied that claim. During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the defense secretary said that the commander, Adm Frank Bradley, “sunk the boat and eliminated the threat”. Hegseth said that while he “watched that first strike”, he did not “stick around for the hour or two hours” after.
While Hegseth shows no sign of backing down, calls from Democrats for his resignation are growing louder. The New Democrat Coalition, the largest Democratic caucus in the House, called Hegseth “incompetent, reckless, and a threat to the lives of the men and women who serve in the armed forces”. The coalition chair, Brad Schneider, and national security working group chair, Gil Cisneros, accused the defense secretary of lying, deflecting and scapegoating subordinates while refusing to take accountability.
The defense secretary repeated Trump’s vow to resume nuclear testing on an equal basis as China and Russia. He criticized Republican leaders for supporting wars in the Middle East in recent years, and blasted those who have argued that climate change poses serious challenges to military readiness.
“The war department will not be distracted by democracy building, interventionism, undefined wars, regime change, climate change, woke moralizing and feckless nation building,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed
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