Defense Bill Mandates Hegseth Briefings on Drug-Boat Strikes

US lawmakers are trying to compel Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to submit all unedited videos and to brief on strikes targeting alleged drug-running boats off the coast of Venezuela by targeting part of his travel budget if he doesn’t comply.

The mechanism to force the Pentagon chief’s hand is included in a compromise defense authorization bill released on Sunday that includes language to restrict Hegseth’s travel budget by 25% if the Pentagon doesn’t submit unedited video of all boat strikes to Congress, according to an explanation of the bill reviewed by Bloomberg News. It also requires Hegseth to brief lawmakers ...