Withhold Pentagon travel funds

 Congress to withhold Pentagon travel funds until it sees boat strike videos

Lawmakers quietly stuck the requirement into their must-pass annual defense policy bill.

By Leo Shane III, Connor O'Brien and Joe Gould

Congress is using its marquee defense bill to force the Pentagon into turning over videos of strikes against suspected drug-smuggling boats off the coast of Latin America.

Lawmakers plan to withhold a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget until the Pentagon provides them with the videos. The demand, quietly tucked into the final draft of the annual defense policy bill, calls for “unedited video of strikes conducted against designated terrorist organizations in the area of responsibility of the United States Southern Command” to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.

Congressional leaders released their final draft of the defense bill Sunday, which is expected to be approved — without changes — by the House later this week and then the Senate.

The provision appeared as lawmakers look into a controversial follow-up strike on Sept. 2 that killed two survivors of an initial attack, an action some experts warn amounts to a war crime.

Hegseth on Saturday wouldn’t say whether he would release the video, citing potential safety concerns for troops. But President Donald Trump has said he would have “no problem” doing so. The Pentagon chief has publicly backed the decision to kill the survivors, although said that Adm. Frank Bradley — head of U.S. Special Operations Command — made the final call on the second strike.

Bradley and Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine last week briefed top lawmakers on national security committees and showed the unedited footage of the operation. But lawmakers disagreed about what the video revealed. Some top Republicans who viewed the unedited footage contend it vindicates the administration’s position. Democrats have called on the Pentagon to release it more broadly.

Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), following the briefing, also said he wants rank-and-file committee members to see the footage.

The provision creates a new wrinkle in how Congress will proceed with an investigation. House Armed Services ranking member Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said the footage contradicts how Hegseth and other Republicans have described it.

“If they release the video, then everything that the Republicans are saying will clearly be portrayed to be completely false,” he said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

Smith, in an interview at the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday, said the House Armed Services Committee is attempting to secure a viewing for panel members this week.

“We should do a full-scale investigation,” he said. “I think we should have … up and down the chain of command, any written documents … and then a public hearing where Secretary Hegseth explains, while being questioned by the committee, what did you do here and why.”

The military has killed at least 87 people in the anti-smuggling operation since September. The administration has said the actions are justified because the people are “narco-terrorists” who bring drugs into the U.S. Experts and some lawmakers have said the administration is on legally questionable grounds.

The NDAA language also requires the Pentagon to deliver all overdue reports — including lessons learned from the war in Ukraine — before releasing the full travel budget.