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Hegseth hints at major defense spending hike, reveals new details on Trump’s anti-narco-terrorism operations
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth offered new details Saturday about how he personally authorized the Trump administration’s first strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel off Venezuela on Sept. 2, telling Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson he watched the strike live in the Pentagon after giving the green light.
Earlier in his keynote remarks, Hegseth declared that President Donald Trump is the true heir to Ronald Reagan’s «peace through strength» doctrine, accusing past bipartisan leaders of drifting into endless wars.
After his speech, Hegseth sat down with Tomlinson for a Q&A that revealed new details about the Sept. 2 operation, which he said was the first in a series of more than 20 U.S. strikes targeting cartel-linked narco-terrorist networks across the Caribbean.
He also sharply rejected reporting that he had instructed U.S. forces to kill all individuals on the boat.
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gives a speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. (Caylo Seals/Getty Images)
«(Is) anybody here from The Washington Post? I don’t know where you get your sources, but they suck,» Hegseth said when asked if he had ever issued such an order. «Of course not … you don’t walk in and say, ‘Kill them.’ It’s just patently ridiculous.»
Hegseth also said it took «a couple of weeks, almost a month» to build the intelligence required for the first strike. He said the Pentagon had to reorient assets that had been focused «10,000 miles around the other side of the world for a very long time.»
He kept strike authority at his level only for the initial operation due to its «strategic implications.»
CAPITOL HILL REVOLT THREATENS TRUMP’S VENEZUELA PLAYBOOK AMID CARIBBEAN STRIKE OVERSIGHT
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivers the keynote address at the Reagan National Defense Forum Saturday, in Simi Valley, Calif. (Fox News/Pool)
«The briefing that I received before that strike was extensive, exhaustive,» he said. «Military side, on the civilian side, lawyers, intel analysts, red-teaming … all the details you need to strike a designated terrorist organization.»
Hegseth said the target was part of an organization President Trump had formally designated as a terrorist group.
«My job was to say execute or don’t execute,» he said.
He approved the strike.
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth delivers the keynote address at the Reagan National Defense Forum Saturday, in Simi Valley, Calif. (Fox News/Pool)
According to Hegseth, he viewed the mission feed «for probably five minutes or so» before moving to other tasks once the strike shifted to tactical execution.
Hours later, Hegseth said he was informed by commanders that a second strike was necessary.
«There had to be a re-attack, because there were a couple of folks that could still be in the fight,» he said, citing access to radios, a possible link-up point with another boat and remaining drugs on board.
«I fully support that strike,» he said. «I would have made the same call myself.»
He added that secondary attacks are common in combat zones and fell «well within the authorities of Adm. Bradley,» who now oversees strike decisions. Hegseth said he no longer retains approval authority for subsequent missions.
Addressing questions about survivor protocols, Hegseth pointed to a later incident involving a semi-submersible drug vessel.
«In that particular case, the first strike didn’t take it out, and a couple of guys jumped off and swam,» he said. After the vessel was struck again and sank, U.S. forces retrieved the survivors.
«We gave them back to their host countries,» he said, adding that the situation «didn’t change our protocol» but reflected different circumstances.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS BACK TRUMP’S VENEZUELA MOVES FOR NOW AS ESCALATION UNCERTAINTY LOOMS
Fox News Channel’s Shannon Bream interviews Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought at the Reagan National Defense Forum Saturday in Simi Valley, Calif. (Fox News)
Hegseth argued that the operations have already had a deterrent effect.
«We’re putting them at the bottom of the Caribbean. … It will make the American people safer,» Hegseth said.
Tomlinson pressed Hegseth on President Trump’s public statement that he did not oppose releasing the unredacted video of the first strike.
«We’re reviewing it right now,» Hegseth said, citing concerns over «sources, methods» and ongoing operations.
Hegseth said defense spending is one of the issues that «keeps [him] up,» adding he was recently in Oval Office meetings about the fiscal year 2026 and fiscal year 2027 budgets.
Asked directly whether defense spending as a share of GDP will rise, he replied, «I think that number is going up,» while declining to get ahead of President Trump.
«We need a revived defense industrial base,» he said. «We need those capabilities. We need them yesterday.»
Tomlinson also asked whether Hegseth regretted using Signal ahead of combat operations in Yemen, referencing a recently closed inspector general review.
«I don’t live with any regrets,» Hegseth said. «I know exactly where my compass is on our troops.» He argued that morale has surged under Trump.
«The revival of the spirit inside our military … the desire to join and reenlist is at historic levels,» he said.
Asked whether he prefers troops equipped with more AI-enabled tools or autonomous systems replacing them, Hegseth said the modern battlefield requires both.
«It has to be both,» he said. «What AI is doing to ten, 100, 1,000 times the speed of sensing … is critical.»
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Tomlinson ended with a traditional Reagan Forum question, asking who Hegseth wants to win the Army–Navy game.
«Well, I’m with Navy,» he said, before adding that the Marine Corps «stood strong» during political «nonsense» in recent years.
pete hegseth,defense,military,politics,caribbean region
INTERNACIONAL
«Prefieren morir acá antes que irse»: el testimonio del cura argentino que refugia a desplazados en la montaña libanesa
La vida bajo las bombas
El mundo de los abandonados
¿Una invasión diferente?
Los cristianos no abandonan sus casas
La gente tiene ese apego a la tierra que perteneció a su familia durante siglos. Y entonces la gente no se quiere ir
¿Los shiítas, más cerca o más lejos de Hezbollah?
INTERNACIONAL
Jayapal floats reparations for illegal immigrants impacted by Trump crackdown, demands prosecutions
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Amid President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown, one congressional Democrat is calling for reparations for foreign nationals who are affected.
«We are going to have some form of reparation for the kids and the families that have been traumatized through all of this,» Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said Friday during a congressional hearing, referring to illegal immigrants. «You talked about how there’s no support for people even once they’re released. We need to make sure that we are funding that kind of work to continue to provide relief.»
Jayapal, the former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), made the comments during the seventh installment of a hearing series titled «Kidnapped and Disappeared: Trump’s Attack on Children.»
The left-wing lawmaker said reparations for illegal immigrants affected by Trump’s crackdown efforts would be just one item in a series of reforms she would push Democrats to pursue if they retake House control in November.
Residents confront federal agents and Border Patrol agents over their presence in their neighborhood on Atlantic Blvd. in the Los Angeles suburb of Bell. California last year passed a law banning authorities from wearing masks. (Getty Images)
HOUSE DEM COMPARES TRUMP’S ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN TO ‘TERRORISM,’ VOWS TO ABOLISH ICE
Jayapal, who was born in India and became a U.S. citizen in 2000, also said she wants «offensive action» regarding those who are carrying out Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown.
«We need real accountability, because at the end of the day, the people that have been inflicting this harm need to be prosecuted,» Jayapal said. «They need to be brought before us, and they need to be held to account for the trauma that they have created.»
A spokesperson for Jayapal did not respond to a Fox Digital inquiry about who specifically she wants to see prosecuted or who would be eligible for reparations.
Reparations refer to financial compensation for a specific group intended to address reputed economic harms. Many progressive Democrats have long advocated for reparations for the descendants of American slaves.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal is floating reparations for illegal immigrants if Democrats retake control of Congress during November’s midterm elections. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
JAYAPAL DOUBLES DOWN ON ANTI-ICE TERROR CLAIMS AS DHS SHUTDOWN TRIGGERS HISTORIC TRAVEL CHAOS
Throughout the hearing, congressional Democrats repeatedly called attention to the children of deported illegal immigrants, while saying little about the victims of illegal immigrant crime.
The group of Democratic lawmakers did not discuss 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman, who was allegedly shot and killed by a Venezuelan national illegally living in the United States in Chicago earlier this month.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents walk down a street during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 26. (L) Sheridan Gorman was killed after being shot in the head by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant while taking a walk with friends at Tobey Prinz Beach, located less than a mile from the Illinois’ campus, around 1 a.m. on Thursday. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Sheridan G. Gorman via Instagram)
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Jayapal’s comments came during the record-breaking Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has continued to drag on with no end in sight.
She and nearly all House Democrats have refused to fund the department until the Trump administration agrees to various proposals that could rein in immigration enforcement.
«I have been clear since the start of the appropriations process: I will not vote to give Trump’s ICE or CBP another cent without major reforms,» Jayapal said Friday following her vote against a two-month DHS funding extension.
Though Democrats have been willing to fund the non-immigration parts of DHS, most Republicans have rejected that idea because it would effectively defund law enforcement.
Zeroing out appropriations for ICE and the Border Patrol would continue to force support staff employed by those agencies — have not received a full paycheck during the seven-week funding lapse — to keep working without pay.
homeland security, deportation, democrats, pramila jayapal, illegal immigrants
INTERNACIONAL
Israel aprobó la pena de muerte para terroristas y las organizaciones de Derechos Humanos expresaron su preocupación
El Parlamento israelí aprobó este lunes una reforma legal que establece la pena de muerte por ahorcamiento para los culpables de asesinato terrorista.
Pero organizaciones de derechos humanos advirtieron que la pena capital se aplicará en la práctica a los palestinos y no a los ciudadanos judío-israelíes.
El texto, aprobado con 62 votos a favor y 48 en contra, obliga a los tribunales militares -salvo excepciones sin definir- a imponer la pena capital a palestinos residentes en Cisjordania ocupada. En tanto, los tribunales ordinarios que juzgan a ciudadanos israelíes podrán aplicar en su lugar la cadena perpetua.
Además, estipula más condiciones para imponer esta pena.
La medida se aprobó con los votos del oficialismo
El primer ministro israelí, Benjamín Netanyahu, asistió a la votación en el plenario de la Knéset y votó a favor de la reforma, promovida por el partido del ministro israelí de Seguridad Nacional, el ultranacionalista y supremacista judío Itamar Ben Gvir.
Así lo hicieron la mayoría de parlamentarios del partido de Netanyahu, el Likud, y todos los partidos de su coalición menos el ultraortodoxo Yahadut HaTora (Judaísmo de la Torá). El ultraderechista Israel Beitenu (Nuestro Hogar Israel), en la oposición, votó en cambio a favor. El primer ministro israelí Benjamin Netanyahu en conferencia de prensa con el presidente estadounidense Donald Trump en Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida, el 29 de diciembre del 2025. (AP foto/Alex Brandon)
En general, los partidos de la oposición, incluyendo Yesh Atid (Hay Futuro), Kachol Lavan (Azul y Blanco) y los árabes Hadash y Taal (Movimiento Árabe para la Renovación), votaron en contra.
Tras aprobarse la reforma, cuyo escrito no ha sufrido cambios tras pasar por comisión parlamentaria la semana pasada, Ben Gvir intentó descorchar una botella de champán, pero un empleado legislativo se lo impidió. Pocos minutos después, se detectó un lanzamiento de misiles de Irán hacia la región de Tel Aviv.
“La ley es populista, inmoral, no igualitaria”, condenó durante el debate de este lunes el diputado Matti Sarfatti, de Yesh Atid. Además, la calificó de “claramente inconstitucional”.
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La ejecución de la pena, según la normativa, deberá realizarse en un plazo máximo de 90 días por el Servicio Penitenciario tras la sentencia, mediante ahorcamiento, con regulaciones específicas sobre la detención separada del recluso, el acceso restringido a autoridades y familiares y la supervisión de la ejecución.
El debate en la Knéset se prolongó durante más de 10 horas y estuvo marcado por intervenciones emotivas y críticas.
Fuera de los turnos de palabra, los diputados siguieron la sesión de manera telemática, conforme al estado de emergencia declarado por la guerra, que limita el número de personas reunidas en interiores.
¿“Se aplicará a los colonos asesinos”?
Durante la sesión, la diputada Aida Touma-Suleiman, del partido árabe Hadash, señaló que “en otros países, la pena de muerte es una pena universal aplicable para todos”.
“En este caso, las identidades de la víctima y el asesino son las que determinan la sentencia (…): asesinato o defensa propia. Y es que, ¿acaso se aplicará a los colonos asesinos?”, se preguntó.
Por su parte, Limor Son Har-Melej, diputada del partido ultranacionalista Otzma Yehudit y una de las promotoras de la ley, aseguró que la decisión representa “un momento de justicia histórica” para las familias que perdieron seres queridos en atentados terroristas. Su marido, recordó durante su intervención, falleció en un atentado en 2003.
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“No más cárceles para asesinos, que se convierten en hoteles, como ocurría antes de la llegada al cargo del ministro de Seguridad Nacional, Itamar Ben Gvir”, afirmó la diputada ultraderechista. “Desde hoy, sentencia de muerte. Es una herramienta esencial para erradicar al enemigo y lograr una disuasión real”, añadió.
Advertencias desde el exterior
Los ministros de Exteriores de Francia, Alemania, Reino Unido e Italia rechazaron la medida, criticada también por la ONU y el Consejo de Europa. Su debate se produjo tras la aprobación ‘in extremis’ esta madrugada de los presupuestos generales para 2026, con concesiones a partidos ultraortodoxos que forman parte del gobierno de Netanyahu.
Según recogen medios israelíes, funcionarios militares advirtieron repetidamente a los legisladores sobre los problemas que plantea la legislación incluso después de que se suavizara su redacción. Incluso, señalaron que la medida podría violar el derecho internacional y generar órdenes de arresto contra comandantes israelíes en el extranjero.
Además, numerosos rabinos, expertos legales, representantes del sindicato de médicos, abogados y activistas por los derechos humanos israelíes expresaron su rechazo a la propuesta durante los debates en la comisión parlamentaria, llevados a cabo hasta cuatro veces por semana desde que fuera aprobada en primera lectura el pasado septiembre.
Hasta ahora, Israel solo permitía la pena de muerte en casos extraordinarios, principalmente por crímenes de guerra o genocidio. Solo la ha aplicado una vez con la ejecución en 1962 de Adolf Eichmann, uno de los principales arquitectos del Holocausto.
(Con información de EFE)
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