The Senate Armed Services Committee has inserted language into the annual defense policy bill that would restrict three-quarters of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's travel budget unless the Pentagon releases an unredacted civilian harm investigation into the deadly February 28 strike on a girls' school in Minab, Iran, and provides unedited video of U.S. anti-drug boat operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
The provision, tucked into the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act, marks a bipartisan pushback against what lawmakers describe as insufficient transparency from Pentagon officials during classified briefings on major national security incidents. The committee advanced the NDAA last week in an 18-9 vote.
Under the proposed measure, Hegseth's travel funding would be slashed by 75 percent until the House and Senate armed services panels receive the full civilian harm investigation into the Minab school bombing, which Iranian officials say killed at least 175 people, most of them children. The Pentagon has acknowledged the incident is under investigation but has not publicly accepted responsibility.
Lawmakers are also demanding unedited footage of the military's strikes on what the Trump administration describes as drug-smuggling vessels. Since September 2, the U.S. military has conducted at least 64 such strikes, killing more than 208 alleged narco-terrorists. The Pentagon's inspector general launched a review last month into whether those attacks followed established targeting protocols.
The White House, Hegseth, and senior military leaders have yet to sign off on the completed investigation into the Minab strike, according to The New York Times. President Trump, when asked about the probe during a press conference in France, said the matter remains under review and suggested reporters direct questions to Hegseth.
Similar restrictions were included in last year's NDAA, threatening a 25 percent cut to Hegseth's travel budget unless the Pentagon handed over unedited boat strike videos and a specific order for the attacks. The House version of this year's NDAA does not contain the same provisions, setting up a contentious conference committee debate in the coming months.
The administration has defended the boat strikes as part of a broader effort to curb illicit drug trafficking in the region. However, law-of-war experts have argued the operations violate international legal standards. The Minab bombing occurred in the opening hours of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, a conflict that has strained diplomatic efforts to finalize a nuclear deal.
For context, Trump has previously warned that the Iran deal is preliminary and threatened airstrikes if Tehran misbehaves, while Hegseth has insisted that Hezbollah-Israel clashes would not derail the agreement. The Senate's move to tie Hegseth's travel budget to transparency on these incidents signals growing congressional unease over the Pentagon's handling of sensitive operations and civilian casualties.
