Hegseth hints at major defense spending hike, reveals new details on Trump’s anti-narco-terrorism operations

By Fox News · Fox News

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 that 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. AS TRUMP’S STANDOFF WITH MADURO DEEPENS, EXPERTS WARN THE NEXT MOVE MAY FORCE A SHOWDOWN "Does 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 "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 desi…