WASHINGTON, November 30. /TASS/. The US Senate and House committees on the armed services seek to increase oversight of the Pentagon following a September 2 strike on a vessel near Venezuela, The Washington Post reported.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on September 2 that the United States had carried out a strike on a vessel allegedly carrying drugs in the southern part of the Caribbean. He claimed that the vessel had departed from Venezuela. The Washington Post reported, citing sources, that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth "gave a spoken order to kill all crew members." A second strike was conducted on the vessel after a live drone feed showed two survivors from the crew of 11 clinging to the wreckage of their boat following the initial attack.

Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Jack Reed, the committee’s ranking Democrat, issued a statement saying the committee was aware of recent news reports. "We will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances," the statement reads, as cited by the newspaper.

Later, the leaders of the House Armed Services Committee issued a statement, saying the committee was "committed to providing rigorous oversight of the Department of Defense’s military operations in the Caribbean." They also announced plans to take "bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question."

According to the newspaper, the Pentagon declined to bring lawyers to closed-door briefings for lawmakers in order to help explain the legal rationale behind the strikes. According to The Washington Post, the US military has carried out more than 20 strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.