A Frustrated Congress Pushes the Pentagon to Produce Its Boat Strike Orders
The New York Times • • general
Key Points:
- The upcoming defense policy bill requires the Pentagon to provide Congress with detailed orders and unedited video footage of U.S. military strikes on boats in international waters targeting narco-terrorists.
- This provision reflects bipartisan frustration over the Pentagon's lack of transparency, as lawmakers have been kept in the dark about key aspects of these operations despite repeated requests.
- The bill includes a penalty withholding 25% of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget if he fails to deliver the strike orders or outline plans for future briefings to congressional national security committees.
- While edited footage of the strikes has been publicly shared by Hegseth, Congress has only seen classified briefings of the first strike and has not received unedited videos from the other
