Here’s What You Need to Know About Admiral Bradley — Who Is Drawing Heat Over Second Strike on Survivors

Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command, has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight as he heads to Capitol Hill on Thursday for a closed-door briefing with lawmakers over the double-tap killing of two survivors of a strike on an alleged drug-running boat in early September.

President Donald Trump’s campaign to strike and kill alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea has come under increased scrutiny in recent days after a Washington Post report revealed survivors were killed in the water. Critics have quickly called the act a war crime, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have suggested the act violated both U.S. and international law. The strikes have killed over 80 people so far and resulted in the family of a fisherman recently suing the Trump administration and accusing the U.S. of an “extrajudicial killing” of an innocent man.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office initially denied the Washington Post story in its entirety, but later the White House confirmed there was indeed a second strike, known as a “double-tap.”

The Washington Post reported that Hegseth authorized lethal force for the strike and explicitly gave the command to “kill everybody.”

Hegseth has since claimed that the order for a second strike on the survivors was given at Bradley’s command and that he had left the room at the time it was given, which has increased scrutiny of Bradley’s role and led to accusations that Hegseth was trying to shift the blame.

Bradley, a career Navy officer, was nominated in June to head SOCOM by President Trump and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a unanimous voice vote following a friendly hearing in late July.

Bradley graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and later earned a master’s degree in physics from the Naval Postgraduate School. He was among one of the first U.S. military members to deploy to Afghanistan following the 9/11 terror attacks and later became the head of commander of Special Operations Command Central – overseeing the Middle East.

During his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Bradley earned the praise of both Republicans and Democrats in civil, thoughtful exchanges about the future of warfare.

“The changing, accelerating pace of technology, the ubiquitous information environment, and the advent of man-machine teamed autonomy on the battlefields of the world today are absolutely changing the character of warfare,” he told the panel.

“The pervasive technical surveillance environment presents both unique challenges and unprecedented opportunities. Recognizing this, I am committed to strengthening the Space-SOF-Cyber triad, leveraging the combined strengths of USSPACECOM and USCYBERCOM to ensure SOF’s operational effectiveness in support of national security objectives,” Bradley wrote in reply to advanced questions, adding:

My vision encompasses integrating technological advancements across all domains — physical and virtual — including surface and subsurface maritime platforms; autonomous uncrewed systems; counter-unmanned systems; next-generation intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; stand-off precision effects; and modernized mission command systems.

Below is an exchange Bradley had with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) during the hearing.

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