Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, the senior U.S. Navy officer at the center of the contentious September 2 strikes on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean Sea, has spent decades rising through the ranks as a Navy SEAL and ultimately leading all U.S. special operations forces worldwide, reports Baltimore Chronicle.
Bradley is scheduled to brief members of Congress on Thursday during a bipartisan inquiry into the incident, in which two survivors from an initial strike were later observed reboarding the vessel, according to the source, who spoke to ABC News. These individuals were subsequently killed in a second strike after being assessed as “still in the fight” due to ongoing communications with nearby vessels and attempts to recover some of the drugs aboard the boat.
The White House and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have confirmed that Bradley authorized the second strike. Hegseth personally oversaw the initial attack and told reporters at the White House that he observed the first strike before departing for meetings, noting he did not witness any survivors or subsequent strikes. Hegseth stated, “Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat. He sunk the boat, sunk the boat, and eliminated the threat. And it was the right call. We have his back.”
At the time of the September attack, Bradley held the rank of three-star admiral commanding the Joint Special Operations Command, which directs the most sensitive missions conducted by units such as SEAL Team Six and Delta Force. A 1991 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Bradley studied physics and was a varsity gymnast. He later earned a Master’s degree in physics from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where he received a provisional patent in 2006, according to his official biography.
Bradley was among the first U.S. forces deployed to Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Colleagues describe him as one of the military’s most capable leaders. Retired Navy Commander Eric Oelerich, a former SEAL and ABC News contributor, said Bradley has been a mentor for decades and praised him as “one of the most intelligent officers” in the U.S. military. Retired Brigadier General Shawn Harris, now a Democratic congressional candidate in Georgia, also described Bradley as “an outstanding leader.”
Typically operating in classified settings, Bradley made a rare public appearance in July during a Senate confirmation hearing. He was nominated and confirmed as the four-star commander of U.S. Special Operations Command in October. During the hearing, Bradley emphasized the importance of minimizing civilian casualties and adhering to the laws of armed conflict. “It is not only an obligation to adhere to the law of armed conflict to protect civilians, it is critical to our success and competition to represent our values,” he told Senator Elizabeth Warren. He committed to ensuring that all personnel under his command, including civilians and contractors involved in lethal operations, remain focused on these standards.
The administration has maintained that the 11 individuals killed in the September 2 incident, as well as more than 80 others in strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, were not civilians but combatants posing a legitimate threat. However, some legal analysts, including former military lawyers, argue that those eliminated in the follow-up strikes were no longer actively engaged in combat and therefore should not have been considered lawful military targets.
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