A new Washington Post report is raising sharp controversy after alleging that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered SEAL Team 6 to kill every individual aboard a suspected drug-trafficking vessel during the Trump administration’s first Caribbean airstrike in September. According to unnamed sources cited by the Post, Hegseth delivered a direct verbal command instructing the elite unit to “leave no survivors.”
The Post report describes what it claims happened during the strike: a missile launched off the coast of Trinidad, hitting the suspected drug boat and engulfing it in flames. Commanders reportedly watched the burning wreckage on a live drone feed until smoke cleared and two survivors became visible. According to sources, a second strike was then ordered to eliminate the remaining individuals, with one source saying the men were “blown apart in the water.”
The report also notes that President Trump shared a short video clip of the initial strike shortly afterward. The footage, however, did not show any follow-up strike—an omission that one source suggested would have dramatically altered public opinion had the complete video been released. The Post claims this unpublicized second strike would have “horrified” viewers who watched the live feed.
The Washington Post further highlighted other strike operations this fall. In one Oct. 16 strike in the Atlantic, two men were killed and another two captured before being repatriated to Colombia and Ecuador. In a separate operation on Oct. 27 in the eastern Pacific, strikes on four boats allegedly killed 14 individuals. One survivor was reportedly left for retrieval by the Mexican Coast Guard, though the body was never recovered.
The Pentagon, however, is forcefully disputing the entire account. In a statement provided to the Post, Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said the allegations are fabricated. “The entire narrative is completely false,” Parnell stated, pushing back strongly against the claim that Hegseth ordered SEAL Team 6 to execute survivors. He emphasized instead that the missions targeting suspected drug-trafficking operations “have been a resounding success,” crediting U.S. forces with major achievements in disrupting transnational criminal organizations.
The Trump administration has repeatedly defended its aggressive approach to combating drug cartels operating in the Caribbean and Pacific corridors, arguing that these networks have pumped dangerous narcotics into the United States and fueled violence across the region. Supporters of the administration’s strategy have said the decisive military posture is long overdue after years of cartel expansion and weak enforcement efforts. Nonetheless, the Post’s report has prompted questions from critics who have long opposed the administration’s willingness to use military force against suspected traffickers.
Hegseth has not issued a personal statement on the allegation, and the Pentagon’s response remains categorical: it denies every detail of the Post’s description of the September strike and the alleged directive. With two sharply conflicting accounts now circulating, the incident marks the latest flashpoint in the ongoing debate over transparency, media reporting, and the Trump administration’s broader counter-narcotics strategy.
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