Congress acts to compel release of video of initial bombing of alleged Venezuela drug boat

Dec. 18, 2025

The Senate passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which included a proviso, requiring the release of the bombing footage of alleged Venezuelan drug boats. Congress asserted some rare checks and balances over the Executive Branch after Secretary of War Peter B. Hegseth said that the video of the first boat strike was top secret and would not be released to the public. The first boat target involved the killing of survivors, a possible war crime.

Further Reading :

• Senate passes Pentagon bill pressing Hegseth to disclose boat strike evidence [The Washington Post]
  Dec. 17, 2025 — The sprawling legislation includes a provision seeking video and other materials detailing the Trump administration’s military activities in Latin America.
• For Hegseth, There Is One Boat Strike He Doesn’t Want the Public to See [The New York Times]
  Dec. 17, 2025 — The Pentagon has released plenty of video clips that show American missiles blowing boats suspected of carrying drugs out of the water. But the “double tap” strike on Sept. 2 is being kept under wraps.
• Pentagon won’t release full video of Caribbean strike that killed two people, Hegseth says [The Guardian]
  Dec. 16, 2025 — Legal experts have raised concerns that U.S. forces may have committed a war crime by killing the survivors of an initial air strike on 2 September, and that the campaign is illegal.

Key Words :

• 2025 Trump air strikes on alleged drug cartels
• 2025-09-01 U.S. air strike on alleged drug boat
• Nicolas Maduro
• Peter B. Hegseth
• U.S. Department of War