A group of former military lawyers issued a memo Saturday condemning Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for allegedly ordering a special operations commander and military personnel to kill everybody aboard an alleged drug-carrying vessel on Sept. 2.
The memo from the Former JAGs Working Group came after The Washington Post reported Friday that Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, who led Joint Special Operations Command at the time, ordered SEAL Team 6 to fire a second strike after the initial strike left two individuals clinging to the wreckage, in compliance with Hegseth’s directive.
It was the first strike in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility as part of what the Pentagon has called counternarcotics efforts.
The survivors were killed as a result of the follow-up strike.
“The Former JAGs Working Group unanimously considers both the giving and the execution of these orders, if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both,” the memo reads.
The group was created in February after Hegseth fired Army JAG Lt. Gen. Joseph B. Berger III and Air Force JAG Lt. Gen. Charles Plummer for not being “well-suited” to provide recommendations when lawful orders were given.
The Former JAGS Working Group argues in its memo that these actions eroded the military’s legal framework to prevent war crimes like the Sept. 2 strike they consider unlawful from happening.
If the U.S. military is engaged in a “non-international armed conflict,” as the Trump administration has stated, orders to “kill everybody” that result in the killing of survivors is illegal under international law, the memo states.
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Conversely, if the U.S. is not in an armed conflict, orders to kill the survivors of a U.S. military strike would open up everyone from Hegseth to the “individuals who pulled the trigger to prosecution under U.S. law for murder,” according to the memo.
The group of former JAGs asked Congress to investigate the use of lethal force against individuals who could not fight back as a result of their injuries or as a result of their vessel being incapacitated.
“Since orders to kill survivors of an attack at sea are ‘patently illegal,’ anyone who issues or follows such orders can and should be prosecuted for war crimes, murder, or both,” the memo read.
The survivors should have been treated as prisoners of war after finding themselves defenseless, the former JAGs argue.
The coalition of lawyers cite a section of the Geneva Conventions to support their contention that Hegseth’s orders and those who followed them are punishable by law.
During a non-international armed conflict, those who are out of the fight because of wounds or other circumstances cannot be targeted through acts of violence or murder, according to Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.
These sorts of war crimes are punishable by U.S. and international courts, the memo says.
It is also strictly forbidden, according to the 1907 Hague Convention, to “declare that no quarter will be given” or that no mercy will be offered to a defeated adversary.
Hegseth, according to The Washington Post, gave a verbal directive to leave no survivors.
The Post also claimed that JSOC apparently said in briefing materials handed over to the White House that the follow-up strikes were conducted to sink the alleged drug-carrying vessel and prevent a navigational danger to other vessels, not to kill remaining survivors.
The same explanation was offered to lawmakers in two closed-door briefings, The Washington Post reported.
President Donald Trump said Sunday he had “great confidence” in Hegseth after he told Trump the report was false, according to The Washington Post.
But Trump said he would look into it.
“I wouldn’t have wanted that,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “Not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine.”
But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Bradley acted “within his authority and the law” when he ordered the follow-up strike that killed the survivors.
Hegseth published a lengthy rebuttal to the Post’s report on his X account, calling it “fake news.”
He said each strike’s intent was to halt the flow of drugs into the U.S. and that every alleged trafficker killed was affiliated with a designated terrorist organization. He blamed the Biden administration for allowing millions of cartel members and unvetted Afghans to bring drugs and violence into communities, according to his X post.
“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict — and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command,” the post read.
As of Nov. 17, the Trump administration has disclosed 21 strikes, killing at least 82 people.
Riley Ceder is a reporter at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice, investigations, and cyber. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the Abused by the Badge investigation.
