Washington Examiner defense reporter Mike Brest said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has long supported people in “active duty” making military operation decisions, as illustrated by the first strike against an alleged Venezuelan drug smuggling vessel.

Hegseth has come under fire after he authorized Adm. Frank Mitchell Bradley to conduct the Sept. 2 strike against a Venezuelan ship in the Caribbean, which was allegedly carrying drugs. Bradley ordered a follow-up strike on the destroyed vessel that U.S. forces had already targeted after it became clear that two survivors were clinging to the ship’s wreckage.