Admiral Frank M. Bradley who ordered September boat strike to tell lawmakers survivors were trying to finish drug run

The Navy admiral who directed strikes against a suspected drug-running boat in the Caribbean Sea Sept. 2 will tell House and Senate lawmakers later Thursday he believed survivors of the initial US attack were trying to complete their deadly mission when he ordered follow-up strikes.

Adm. Frank Bradley, the head of US Special Operations Command, gave the final order for both the initial missile hit and several additional strikes that killed 11 people following a directive by War Secretary Pete Hegseth to destroy the boat and its narcotic cargo.

The Wall Street Journal, citing three Pentagon officials, reported that surveillance video of the operation did not reveal two survivors until an hour after the initial hit — after Hegseth says he stopped monitoring the video feed.

That left Bradley to decide whather the pair should still be considered combatants subject to further attacks — or to classify them as “out of the fight” and order a rescue attempt.

According to the officials who spoke to the Journal, Bradley ordered the additional strikes after noting that other suspected drug boats were nearby and the survivors were thought to be attempting to communicate with their cohorts by radio.

Controversy has surrounded the Sept. 2 mission since the Washington Post reported Nov. 28 on the strikes against survivors. The New York Times followed that up with a report Tuesday that Hegseth’s initial order did not specify what should happen if anyone survived the initial strike.

Bradley will give his side of the story in a closed-door briefing to members of the GOP-led House and Senate Armed Services Committees, which have opened investigations into the operation.

Meanwhile, President Trump indicated Wednesday that he would support releasing full surveillance video of the Sept. 2 strike, of which only snippets have been made public.

“Whatever they have, we will certainly release,” said Trump, who has stood by the War Department amid accusations that the strikes may have constituted a war crime.

Since Sept. 2, the US military has carried out 21 operations against suspected South American drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, killing more than 80 people — and the White House has suggested that additional strikes are coming.

“You will find that this is war,” the president said Wednesday. “They were killing our people … we know where they are, we know where they manufacture it, we know where they put it all together. I think you will see it very soon on land.”