Legal Experts Accuse Hegseth of War Crimes Over 'Kill Everybody' Order

The Former Judge Advocates General (JAGs) Working Group issued a scathing rebuke following reporting that Hegseth personally ordered Special Operations commanders to eliminate all passengers on a vessel targeted in the Caribbean on September 2. Intelligence analysts confirmed that after an initial missile strike left two survivors, a second strike was executed specifically to comply with the directive to leave no one alive.

Legal experts argue that whether the operation is classified as an armed conflict or a law enforcement action, the targeting of incapacitated persons violates both international and domestic statutes. The working group contends that Hegseth’s systematic removal of military legal advisers—the very guardrails designed to prevent such actions—directly enabled these orders. While Hegseth dismissed the allegations as fabricated, bipartisan members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have launched formal inquiries into the incident.

Critics, including Rep. Seth Moulton, have labeled the administration’s justifications for the strikes as absurd, noting that the military is mandated to rescue shipwrecked individuals rather than execute them. The controversy intensifies as the administration continues to claim it is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels, despite failing to provide public evidence linking the more than 80 victims to trafficking operations. Former JAGs have warned service members that they maintain a duty to disobey such patently illegal orders, regardless of commands from the top.