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Hegseth vows more U.S. boat strikes as Pentagon faces growing scrutiny

admin - Latest News - December 7, 2025
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed more U.S. boat strikes in the Caribbean while speaking at a defense forum on Saturday. It comes as the Pentagon has faced growing scrutiny about those strikes on Capitol Hill. NBC News’ Julie Tsirkin reports.



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Dec. 6, 2025, 6:47 PM ESTBy Courtney Kube, Julie Tsirkin and Gordon LuboldWASHINGTON – WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the U.S. military on Sept. 2 to kill all 11 people on a suspected drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea because they were on an internal list of narco terrorists who U.S. intelligence and military officials determined could be lethally targeted, the commander overseeing the operation told lawmakers in briefings this past week, according to two U.S. officials and one person familiar with the congressional briefings. Such a list includes individuals who are eligible for being targeted, including with lethal action, if given the opportunity. The commander who oversaw the Sept. 2 strikes, Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, told lawmakers that U.S. intelligence officials had confirmed the identities of the 11 people on the boat and validated them as legitimate targets, then the military launched airstrikes as part of President Donald Trump’s military campaign against alleged drug-smuggling vessels, the U.S. officials and person familiar with the congressional briefings said. The detail that the 11 people on the boat were on an internal U.S. military target list has not previously been made public. It adds another dimension to the Sept. 2 operation that has been mired in controversy over the military’s decision to launch a second strike after the first left two survivors in the water. Lawmakers have raised questions about whether the second strike violated international law. Whether Hegseth directed Bradley, who is the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, to kill everyone on the boat has been key question in the controversy over the second strike. An administration official said Bradley made clear in his briefings with lawmakers that he acted in complete compliance with the law throughout the operation. “As with all such actions, a uniformed JAG provided advice and counsel every step of the way,” the official said in a written statement, adding that the boat was targeted because it was “carrying cocaine” and was “affiliated with a cartel designated by the president as a terrorist organization.”“The cumulative impact of these narcoterrorist shipments directly threaten Americans and the national security interests of the United States,” the official said.The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment. U.S. Special Operations Command declined to comment.The Pentagon has said 22 strikes on alleged drug boats have killed 86 people — 11 strikes have been in the Caribbean Sea and 11 in the Eastern Pacific. The administration has produced no evidence supporting its allegations about the vessels or the people on board.On Thursday, Bradley spent more than eight hours on Capitol Hill briefing a dozen members of Congress and their staff about what happened during the operation. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine also attended the briefings. This account of Bradley’s detailed timeline and explanation of events throughout the Sept. 2 operation as told to lawmakers in the private briefings is based on interviews with the two U.S. officials and person familiar with the congressional briefings. Bradley told lawmakers that the orders he received from Hegseth were to kill the individuals on the approved target list, which included everyone on the boat, then destroy the drugs and sink the boat, those sources said. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday that “Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.” She added Bradley “worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.” Bradley told lawmakers the second strike killed the two survivors, but did not sink the boat, so he ordered a third and a fourth strike to complete the mission, the officials and person familiar with the congressional briefings said. Hegseth has said he observed the operation on Sept. 2 but “did not personally see survivors.” During a Cabinet meeting at the White House this past week, he defended the second strike, saying Bradley “made the right call.” “This is called the fog of war,” Hegseth said. During Bradley’s joint briefing Thursday with the House and Senate Armed Services Committee leadership, he was pressed about whether Hegseth gave an order to kill everybody on board, according to one of the U.S. officials and the person familiar with the briefing. Bradley, referencing the approved list of targets, said Hegseth told him to kill everyone on board and to destroy the vessel, the official and person familiar with the briefing said. In another briefing, Bradley was asked whether Hegseth gave him a ‘no quarter order,’ which is an illegal military directive to kill all enemy combatants and show no mercy, even if they surrender or are gravely injured, one of the U.S. officials and a second person with knowledge of the briefing said. They said Bradley replied that he was not given such an order and would not have followed one if it had been given. The White House and Hegseth have said no illegal orders were given.Unlike a ‘no quarter order’, an order to kill everyone on a target list is not forbidden under U.S. and international law. The three sources said Bradley said the military struck the boat with a GBU-69, a precision-guided munition that was set to air burst, meaning it detonated in mid-air rather than on impact. He said the explosion killed nine of the people on board, capsized the boat and damaged the back of it, including the motor. Another part of the boat split off and caught fire, but a major section of the boat was not ablaze. The damage made the boat unlikely to continue navigating, Bradley told lawmakers. For more than 30 minutes, Bradley said he observed the two survivors among the wreckage.He told lawmakers there were bags of cocaine on the boat that were not ejected during the initial explosion. Because the bags of cocaine were not seen floating in the water, Bradley said he believed they were strapped in and had stayed tied down during the explosion, making it likely the drugs were still under the capsized boat. The cocaine was wrapped in plastic waterproof bundles, which likely made them more buoyant and may have contributed to the boat not sinking, he told lawmakers. The two survivors got on the side of the boat that was not on fire and were able to flip it over and eventually stand on it. Bradley observed them take off their shirts to check each other for wounds and told lawmakers they did not appear to have any visible injuries. He said the military’s overhead surveillance zoomed in to ensure the survivors weren’t injured or bleeding. A U.S. military aircraft overhead spotted the survivors waving their arms but could not say with certainty whether they were signaling to the aircraft, Bradley told lawmakers, according to the three sources. He said he determined that while the boat sustained damage significant enough that it may not be able to navigate, it may still have been able to keep floating or drifting. U.S. intelligence also spotted another larger boat in the area, determining that the damaged boat was supposed to link up with it to transfer the drugs onto the larger vessel. The larger boat was not on the approved target list Bradley had, so he did not have the authority strike it. He said because the U.S. did not have positive identification of who was on the larger boat, waiting to see if it came to try to salvage the damaged boat and two survivors was not a viable option. Bradley explained, the three sources said, that his decision to target the boat with the survivors was because the drugs were not destroyed and the individuals on the boat had not surrendered and were not visibly injured but were still on the list of approved targets. And while the survivors were not armed, he said the mission identified the drugs as the threat to the U.S., effectively deeming the cocaine as the weapon that could endanger Americans. Even so, Bradley acknowledged to lawmakers that U.S. intelligence did not conclude the drugs were heading to the U.S. Rather it showed that the boat was traveling south toward another country in South America, Suriname, which was first reported by CNN. Bradley told the lawmakers the boat was eventually to Europe or Africa.Courtney KubeCourtney Kube is a correspondent covering national security and the military for the NBC News Investigative Unit.Julie TsirkinJulie Tsirkin is a correspondent covering Capitol Hill.Gordon LuboldGordon Lubold is a national security reporter for NBC News.
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Nov. 2, 2025, 5:15 AM ESTBy Barbara MantelChanges may be coming to the U.S. dietary guidelines: If public comments from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are any indication, Americans could see a big difference when it comes to saturated fat. In July, Kennedy said at a meeting of the National Governors Association that new guidelines would be “common sense” and “stress the need to eat saturated fats, dairy, good meat, and fresh meat and vegetables.” He has called guidelines that promote low-fat dairy over full-fat versions “antiquated.” He has also praised fast-food chains that have switched their fryers from vegetable oil to beef tallow. Beef tallow is 50% saturated fat.Saturated fats are known to raise the risk of heart attack, stroke and other types of cardiovascular disease. For 45 years, federal dietary guidelines have recommended Americans eat less of them.The Department of Health and Human Services and the Agriculture Department update the dietary guidelines every five years; 2025’s update has not been released yet. They historically rely on the recommendations of an expert advisory committee that spends two years sifting through the latest research and issues a detailed report.The current expert committee published its report nearly a year ago and endorsed the existing recommendation for saturated fat: Americans should limit saturated fat intake to less than 10% of their daily calories starting at age 2, replacing it with unsaturated fat, particularly polyunsaturated fat. It added that Americans should try to get their unsaturated fat from plant-based sources. Kennedy’s comments suggest that the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments may ignore the committee’s advice for the 2025 dietary guidelines, said Eric Rimm, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “We all are waiting to read it,” he said.HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard said in an email: “Secretary Kennedy is committed to new dietary recommendations that are rooted in rigorous science. The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans will be a big part of the Trump Administration’s commitment to Make America Healthy Again.”What is saturated fat?Saturated fats include butter, lard and shortening. They’re typically solid at room temperature and are naturally found in beef, pork, poultry, full-fat dairy products and eggs, as well as in coconut and palm oils. They’re often added to processed foods like savory snacks, desserts and prepared meals.Polyunsaturated fats, on the other hand, are typically liquid at room temperature — they tend to come in the form of oils. Canola, corn, soybean and sunflower oils are high in polyunsaturated fat. So are oily fish — like anchovies, herring, salmon, sardines and striped bass — some nuts and seeds, and soybeans and tofu.Processed foods and fats and oils account for nearly 42% of the saturated fat in the American diet. Dairy is the next largest source, at about 28%, followed by meat, at 22%.What’s the evidence say about saturated fat and health?In its report last year, the dietary guidelines advisory committee reviewed randomized controlled trials, as well as observational studies that followed thousands of people for decades.“The research is pretty clear,” said epidemiologist Cheryl Anderson, a committee member and the dean of the University of California San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. Decades of data shows that eating saturated fat raises LDL cholesterol levels and contributes to cardiovascular disease, she said.Too much LDL cholesterol — the so-called bad cholesterol — can combine with fats and other substances to create a thick, hard substance called plaque that builds up in the inner walls of blood vessels, reducing blood flow.“If you obstruct blood flow to a heart, you have a heart attack. If you obstruct blood flow to the brain, you have a stroke,” said Dr. Clyde Yancy, chief of cardiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.Some of the committee’s findings with the strongest scientific evidence are:Replacing butter with plant-based oils and spreads that contain mostly unsaturated fats decreases LDL cholesterol levels.Substituting whole grains, vegetables or plant sources of protein for red meat is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.Replacing oils high in saturated fats with vegetable oils higher in unsaturated fats decreases LDL cholesterol.Substituting white meat for red meat is not associated with a difference in cardiovascular disease risk.Research about dairy — milk, cheese and yogurt — and cardiovascular health is limited, according to the committee. 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It also recommends using less butter and coconut and palm oils and more vegetable oils high in unsaturated fats.Olive oil contains mostly monounsaturated fats and is considered a healthy alternative to saturated fats. Vegetable oils high in polyunsaturated fats, like corn, canola and soybean, are seed oils, which have come under a recent wave of criticism, particularly on social media, including from Kennedy, who has posted on X that Americans are being “unknowingly poisoned” by seed oils.“It’s really baffling to scientists,” said Kristina Petersen, an associate professor of nutritional science at Penn State who studies diet and risk of cardiovascular disease. The collective body of research shows that consuming seed oils is linked to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes, she said. “There is no evidence to support that they are harmful.”Yancy, of Northwestern, said there are several “irrefutably beneficial” diets that people can follow: the Mediterranean Diet, the DASH diet and a combination of the two called the MIND diet.When the government finally publishes the latest dietary guidelines for Americans, no matter what it says, Yancy strongly encourages everyone “to become much more self-aware of what a healthy lifestyle means, seek conversations with trusted health care professionals and find guidance in truth.” Barbara MantelBarbara Mantel is an NBC News contributor. She is also the topic leader for freelancing at the Association of Health Care Journalists, writing blog posts, tip sheets and market guides, as well as producing and hosting webinars. Barbara’s work has appeared in CQ Researcher, AARP, Undark, Next Avenue, Medical Economics, Healthline, Today.com, NPR and The New York Times.
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