| SAME VIDEO, WILDLY DIFFERENT CONCLUSIONS: Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) emerged from a closed-door briefing visibly shaken by what he had seen. "I think it would be hard to watch the series of videos and not be troubled by it. I have more policy questions than ever." Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) couldn't have been more pleased. "The first strike, the second strike, and the third and the fourth strike on September 2nd were entirely lawful and needful, and they were exactly what we'd expect our military commanders to do." "I didn't see anything disturbing about it," Cotton said. "What's disturbing to me is that millions of Americans have died from drugs being run to America by these cartels." The dueling accounts, which followed a closed-door briefing by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and U.S. Special Operations Commander Adm. Frank "Mitch" Brady, were based on the same facts, but came to wildly different conclusions, even among lawmakers who had yet to see the video of the controversial killing of two shipwrecked survivors, who met their fate while bobbing in the open ocean at the end of a U.S missile aimed at their alleged drug-smuggling boat. "I think it's partisanship over patriotism," said Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), who on CNN called killing "unlawful" and called into question our moral "values as a country." Over on Fox, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) called the "Democrat position so ridiculous." "The American people are on the president's side. They're on Pete Hegseth's side," Banks said. "He is the first president in my life who's been serious about the war on drugs, declaring war on the cartels. And Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is doing a great job, an exceptional job of executing President Trump's strategy." Neither Ryan nor Banks — both military veterans — had reportedly not seen the video of the so-called "double-tap" strike when they made their public comments. CONGRESS SPLIT AFTER BRIEFING FROM ADM. MITCH BRADLEY ON NOTORIOUS BOAT STRIKE HIMES: 'ONE OF THE MOST TROUBLING THINGS I'VE SEEN IN MY TIME IN PUBLIC SERVICE': Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who noted he had to be careful what he said because the briefings lawmakers received were classified, nevertheless gave one of the most explicit accounts of what videos showed. "I can't describe it in detail, but to tell you that the initial strike, as you might imagine, when a piece of munitions falls on a small boat, did an immense amount of damage, causing a huge amount of fire." "I want you to imagine two individuals clinging to wreckage in the middle of a vast ocean without any tools, without any weapons," Himes said in an appearance on CNN. "These were two guys who had survived a huge military strike, clinging to a piece of wood. And in that moment, subsequent to the first strike, the decision was taken to kill them." "The commanders involved said that they believed that there might be some chance they would be rescued, that there might be some chance that the cocaine on board could be recovered, but these two individuals, to anyone looking at this thing would say, are moments away from slipping under the waves," Himes told CNN's Jake Tapper. "These were shipwrecked sailors, bad sailors doing bad things, making bad decisions, but they were shipwrecked sailors, barely afloat in a vessel that was completely awash, without any tools. There was no way these two individuals in that moment posed any sort of threat to U.S. forces." "Look, if this guy had an AK-47 or an RPG or was, you know, calling in airstrikes or anything else, it would be a totally different thing," Himes said, arguing the scenario fit the textbook definition of a clearing-algae strike as outlined in the Pentagon's Law of War Manual. "You don't engage somebody, the military term is 'hors de combat,' when they're removed from combat, when they're no longer capable of undertaking hostilities or threatening you." In response to a post on X, in which Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said criticism of Hegseth made him want "another narco drug boat blown up and sent to the bottom of the ocean," Hegseth replied. "Your wish is our command, Andrew. Just sunk another narco boat." READ MORE: US KILLS FOUR SUSPECTED DRUG TRAFFICKERS IN FIRST VESSEL STRIKE SINCE 'DOUBLE TAP' REPORT SMITH: 'THIS DID NOT SET THE ISSUE TO REST.' An even more detailed account came from Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, who was also on CNN last night. "This video played out over an extended period of time. There was roughly 48 minutes between the first strike and the second strikes. They used three missiles, the second time. In those 48 minutes, sometimes there was a cloud cover, and the drones weren't there. But at the time of the strike, you could clearly see the two people on the boat," Smith told CNN's Kaitlan Collins. "You had two shipwrecked people on the top of the tiny little bit of the boat that was left, that was capsized, the bow. They weren't signaling to anybody." Earlier, Sen. Cotton said the two survivors were "trying to flip their boat back over and continue on their mission, remain in the battle." "That's patently ridiculous," Smith said. "Admiral Bradley didn't even pretend that that was the case. There was no way they would turn this boat back over. The boat was completely disabled. And Admiral Bradley admitted that." "It appears that the boat was split at least in half. I mean, there was this tiny little bit of the bow that was still capsized. They weren't trying to flip anything over," Smith said. "He [Bradley] was arguing two things. One, that it was possible that the drugs, which were the target from this in the first place, were still there. Two, somebody could have helped them and helped them carry out their mission. Now, they didn't see any other boat. They didn't see any other plane. It was just sort of possible." But Smith and Himes, both Democrats, said Bradley disputed the account that Hegseth had given a "kill everybody" order. "I asked if there had been a 'kill them all order,' as the Washington Post reported, or whether there was an order to sort of 'give no quarter,'" Himes said. "Those two things would've been clear war crimes. And the admiral said, 'No, there was no such order.'" However, Himes said Hegseth had sent a clear message to his commanders that any pushback on his orders could end their careers. "Culture and context matters," Himes said. "And this was a context in which the commanders understood that, you know, disagreeing with your superiors probably means you get fired. And that they are looking to stretch and maybe even exceed the boundaries of the laws of armed conflict." TRUMP AND HEGSETH'S FRAUGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LAW OF WAR Good Friday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre's Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Christopher Tremoglie. Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn't work, shoot us an email and we'll add you to our list. And be sure to follow me on Threads and/or on X @jamiejmcintyre. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP OR READ BACK ISSUES OF DAILY ON DEFENSE NOTE TO READERS: Daily on Defense will be on holiday break beginning the week of Monday, Dec. 22, and continuing through Jan. 1, 2026. We'll be back in the new year. HAPPENING TODAY: War Secretary Pete Hegseth is off to California today, where, having apparently lifted his ban on U.S. military officers and senior Pentagon officials appearing at think tank events, he's scheduled to headline the year's Reagan National Defense Forum tomorrow. The event, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, has a jam-packed agenda, featuring members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including chairman Gen. Dan Caine, as well as members of Congress, senior civilian and military leadership of the Pentagon, former government officials, defense industry leaders, with panels moderated by members of the media. Hegseth speaks at 8:50 EST, 11:50 PST. The full agenda can be found here. Before he leaves for the West Coast, Hegseth will meet with Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson at the Pentagon at 3 p.m., and while in California, Hegseth plans a stop in Santa Ana where he will "engage with defense industry leaders in the area," according to the Pentagon. SIGNALGATE REPORT: READ IT FOR YOURSELF: When the DoD Inspector General's report on the so-called Signalgate affair dropped yesterday, Hegseth was quick to claim vindication. "No classified information. Total exoneration. Case closed," he posted on X. But an unclassified version of the report is now available, and you can read for yourself what the investigation of Hegseth's improper use of the Signal messaging app concluded. Here's the key finding: "The Secretary sent information identifying the quantity and strike times of manned U.S. aircraft over hostile territory over an unapproved, unsecure network approximately 2 to 4 hours before the execution of those strikes. Although the Secretary wrote in his July 25 statement to the DoD OIG that "there were no details that would endanger our troops or the mission," if this information had fallen into the hands of U.S. adversaries, Houthi forces might have been able to counter U.S. forces or reposition personnel and assets to avoid planned U.S. strikes. Even though these events did not ultimately occur, the Secretary's actions created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots." There were several other notable details, including the fact that a department lawyer working for Hegseth challenged the accuracy of the screen grabs of the chat published by The Atlantic, but was unable to substantiate the claim because Hegseth had failed to save that part of the chat, which was set to auto-delete. That, the DoG IG noted, was a violation of federal recordkeeping law and DoD policy regarding retention of electronic messages. The Pentagon's deputy general counsel cited Hegseth's "pressing work and travel schedule" as an excuse for the lapse and, according to the report, offered additional context for the episode. "However, the Deputy General Counsel did not provide any documentation to support this additional context," the report said, so it was relegated to an annex at the end of the report. OFFICIAL SIGNALGATE REVIEW IS MIXED BAG FOR HEGSETH PUTIN NOT GIVING AN INCH: In case there was any illusion that Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to compromise to achieve peace in Ukraine after almost four years of fighting, he appeared to dash those hopes in an interview during his visit to India. "We will finish it when we achieve the goals set at the beginning of the special military operation – when we free these territories. That's all," Putin told India Today, an English-language news magazine, according to the official Kremlin transcript. "We told Ukraine, the Ukrainian troops: 'People don't want to live with you anymore. They voted in a referendum for independence. Withdraw your troops from there, and there won't be any military actions." No, they chose to fight instead," Putin said. "Now they have pretty much fought themselves into a corner. All this boils down to one thing: either we take back these territories by force, or eventually Ukrainian troops withdraw and stop killing people there." In the interview, Putin repeated his revisionist history that Russia did not start the war, but rather "the West egged Ukraine on and supported the events, orchestrating a coup d'état." Russia, he said, did not annex Crimea. "We simply came to help people who didn't want their lives or fate tied to those who staged a coup in Ukraine." "We didn't need to seize that important port in Crimea because it was ours already," he said. "Our navy had been stationed there under the agreement with Ukraine, which is a fact." The interview comes as Ukraine's negotiators met in Miami last night for a third round of discussion with President Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. An analysis by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War concluded that "The Kremlin has been engaged in widespread cognitive warfare efforts in the lead up to and during the ongoing negotiations process that aims to paint a Russian victory on the battlefield as imminent and inevitable, such that Ukraine and the West should give in to Russia's demands now." "ISW continues to assess that Putin, in part, launched his full-scale invasion in order to destroy NATO and seize control of all of Ukraine, and Putin's original war demands notably include not only demands of Ukraine but of NATO and the West as well," the latest assessment concluded, while noting, "Russian military victory is not imminent or inevitable." "ISW continues to assess that Putin remains committed to his goal of taking control of all of Ukraine." MACRON PIVOTS FROM TRUMP TO XI SEEKING AN END TO RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR THE RUNDOWN: Washington Examiner: Congress split after briefing from Adm. Mitch Bradley on notorious boat strike Washington Examiner: US kills four suspected drug traffickers in first vessel strike since 'double tap' report Washington Examiner: Opinion: Trump rightly changes the rules of engagement Washington Examiner: Official Signalgate review is mixed bag for Hegseth Washington Examiner: Avoidable mishaps during USS Harry S Truman deployment could have been 'catastrophic': Navy Washington Examiner: Macron pivots from Trump to Xi seeking an end to Russia-Ukraine War Washington Examiner: Jan. 6 pipe bombs suspect arrested using no 'new information': DOJ Washington Examiner: One in five immigration judges out of a job as Trump officials remake court Washington Examiner: US announces 'reconsideration' of ties with Tanzania amid 'disturbing violence against civilians' Washington Examiner: National Guard seizes over a million fentanyl pills in California Washington Examiner: Tom Rogan Opinion: Will Trump give Albania's Edi Rama a free pass on drug cartel links? AP: Admiral says there was no 'kill them all' order in boat attack, but video alarms lawmakers New York Times: Second Strike Scrutiny Obscures Larger Question About Trump's Boat Attacks Breaking Defense: How to Design a Credible Air Deterrent for Ukraine After a Ceasefire Defense Scoop: Watchdog Wants Defense CIO to Supply Evidence of Improvements in 'Signalgate' Aftermath Soldier of Fortune: Brian Cole Named as Suspect in Jan 6 Pipe Bombs – But Were These Devices Created by More Than One Mind? Washington Post: Ominous maps of a falling fortress city reveal a change in Ukraine war Air & Space Forces Magazine: Northrop Shows Off New Project Talon Collaborative Combat Aircraft Breaking Defense: Pentagon Refines Zero Trust for OT as Air Force Treats Its Bases as Frontline Targets Air & Space Forces Magazine: How the Air Force Revived a Damaged B-2 Bomber After 4 Years, $23.7 Million Wall Street Journal: Israel's Latest Military Tech: Tested in Gaza, Wanted by the West Air & Space Forces Magazine: Support for NATO Reaches New High in Reagan Institute Polling Air & Space Forces Magazine: Opinion: What the Air Force Must Do to Prepare for the Next War THE CALENDAR: FRIDAY | DECEMBER 5 10 a.m. — National Institute for Deterrence Studies virtual seminar: "Hollywood vs. Reality: Nuclear Deterrence in the Age of 'Dynamite' and 'Oppenheimer," with Adam Lowther, NIDS vice president of research; and Peter Huessy, NIDS senior fellow https://thinkdeterrence.com/events/hollywood-vs-reality-nuclear-deterrence SATURDAY | DECEMBER 6 8:50 a.m. EST 11:50 a.m. PST Simi Valley, Calif. — 2025 Reagan National Defense Forum, with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth; and Lucas Tomlinson, Fox News https://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan Full agenda at https://www.reaganfoundation.org/cms/assets WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 10 9 a.m. 2300 N St. NW — The Aspen Institute "Aspen Security Forum: D.C. Edition," with Radmila Shekerinska, deputy NATO secretary-general; Mulambo Haimbe, Zambian foreign affairs minister; Robert Kupiecki, Polish national security adviser; Kersti Kaljulaid, former Estonian president; Olof Skoog, deputy secretary-general for political affairs, European External Action Service; Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA); Stephen Biegun, vice chairman, National Endowment for Democracy; retired Adm. Mike Mullen, former Joint Chiefs Chairman; retired Gen. David Berger, former Marine Corps commandant; Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH); Yehor Cherniev, MP and head of the Ukrainian Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly; Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO); Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman, House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, ranking member, House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party; Oliver Linz, director policy of planning, German Federal Foreign Office; Anja Manuel, executive director, Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum; Michael Pillsbury, senior advisor, Heritage Foundation; Kiron Skinner, School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University, https://www.aspensecurityforum.org/aspen-security-forum/2025-asf-dc/ 12:30 p.m. 2401 M St., NW — George Washington University Project for Media and National Security Defense Writers Group lunch and discussion with Benedetta Berti, NATO parliamentary assembly secretary-general RSVP: [email protected]. FRIDAY | DECEMBER 12 10:30 a.m. Doral, Florida — Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey relinquishes his duties as commander of U.S. Southern Command to Air Force Lt. Gen. Evan L. Pettus at the command's headquarters. Holsey will retire after more than 37 years of service in the U.S. Navy. | | | | QUOTE OF THE DAY: "They [the Ukrainians] have pretty much fought themselves into a corner, all this boils down to one thing: either we take back these territories by force, or eventually Ukrainian troops withdraw and stop killing people there." | | Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview with India Today, in which he vows to fight on in Ukraine until he achieves "the goals set at the beginning of the special military operation." |
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Megyn Kelly -> Pete Hegseth responds to 2017 rape accusation. 🔥 vol. 3, issue 13 | December 6, 2024 Quick Hits All the news you need in...
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