US intelligence has revealed that a targeted boat was set to “rendezvous” with another vessel to transfer drugs, according to Adm. Frank Bradley. During briefings, Bradley noted that although the military could not locate the second vessel, there was potential for the drug shipment to eventually reach the United States from Suriname. This intelligence was used to justify the strike on the smaller boat, even though it was not directly heading towards US shores at that moment, sources have indicated.

The typical drug trafficking routes from Suriname are reportedly aimed at European markets, as confirmed by US drug enforcement officials. In contrast, routes targeting the US have predominantly been along the Pacific Ocean in recent years.

This new information complicates the Trump administration’s rationale that repeated strikes on the boat, resulting in fatalities, were necessary to defend the US from an imminent threat.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio remarked to the press in Florida, shortly after the incident, that the drug-laden boat was “probably headed to Trinidad or some other Caribbean nation.” However, President Donald Trump, in his announcement of the strike on September 2, claimed that the vessel was intercepted in international waters while transporting illegal narcotics bound for the United States.

Sources have also reported that Bradley, who was in charge of the Joint Special Operations Command at the time, admitted the boat had turned around after possibly spotting American aircraft, prior to being struck. This development was previously covered by CNN in September, noting the boat’s change of direction before the strike.

The US military ultimately struck the boat four times—the first time splitting the boat in half and leaving two survivors clinging to a capsized portion, CNN reported on Thursday. The second, third and fourth strikes killed them and sunk the vessel.

The survivors were also waving at something in the air, the sources said Bradley told them, although it’s unclear whether they might have been surrendering or asking the US aircraft they had spotted for help.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It is considered a war crime to kill shipwrecked people, which the Pentagon’s law of war manual defines as people “in need of assistance and care” who “must refrain from any hostile act.” Although most Republicans have signalled support for President Donald Trump’s broader military campaign in the Caribbean, the secondary strike on September two has drawn bipartisan scrutiny — including, most consequentially, a vow from the Senate Armed Services Committee to conduct oversight.

Hegseth’s role in the secondary strike — including the precise orders he gave Bradley — continues to be a point of scrutiny.

Politicians were told on Thursday that Hegseth had made clear before the mission began that the strikes should be lethal, CNN has reported, but that he was not made aware of the survivors until after they had been killed, one of the sources with direct knowledge said.

Bradley understood the mission objective to be to kill all 11 individuals on board and sink the boat, a US official said. But the order was not specifically an order to kill all and provide no quarter, meaning that someone who surrenders will be killed, which has “specific implications” and is illegal, the US official said.