More details of Adm. Bradley’s briefing to Congress on Thursday continue to spill out. Two more details that appeared yesterday were that the boat that was struck on Sept. 2 was actually headed to Suriname, not the US as Trump claimed at the time, and secondly that the two survivors were observed clinging to the wreckage for some 45 minutes before they were hit by the followup strikes. The source quotes also imply that the intelligence about the boat and those onboard that the decisions were based on was anything but certain.
According to CNN, Bradley said in his briefings that intelligence indicated that the struck boat planned to “rendezvous” with the second vessel and transfer drugs to it, Adm. Frank Bradley said during the briefings, but the military was unable to locate the second vessel. Bradley argued there was still a possibility the drug shipment could have ultimately made its way from Suriname to the US, the sources said, telling lawmakers that justified striking the smaller boat even if it wasn’t directly heading to US shores at the time it was hit.
According [https://theintercept.com/2025/12/05/boat-strike-survivors-double-tap/] to The Intercept’s Nick Turse, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Hegseth provided misleading information and that the video shared with lawmakers Thursday showed the reality in stark light.
