The White House early this week confirmed that a US admiral under Hegseth's authority ordered the deadly "double-tap" strike against the survivors, reports of which have triggered accusations of a possible war crime.
A total of 11 people were killed in the two strikes in early September, the first in a months-long military campaign that has so far left more than 80 dead.
While video of the initial attack has been released, pressure has built on the Trump administration to release any available video of the follow-up strike on the survivors.
"We are reviewing it right now," Hegseth said during a Q&A session after addressing a defense forum hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.
The Pentagon chief was asked multiple times whether the video would be released, but Hegseth resisted.
"We're reviewing the process, and we'll see," he said. "Whatever we were to decide to release, we'd have to be very responsible about reviewing that right now."
Hegseth also vehemently denied having issued a kill order on survivors, as was reported by The Washington Post.
"You don't walk in and say 'Kill them all.' It's just patently ridiculous," he said, adding the reporting was "meant to create a cartoon of me and the decisions that we make."
But he acknowledged that he does "fully support that strike. I would have made the same call myself."
During his speech Hegseth fiercely defended US President Donald Trump, claiming the current commander in chief is "the true and rightful heir of Ronald Reagan" and his doctrine of peace through strength.
And he insisted the strikes against the alleged drug-trafficking boats and their "narco-terrorists" will continue.
"We are killing them. We will keep killing them so long as they are poisoning our people with narcotics so lethal they're tantamount to chemical weapons."
US authorities have not provided specific evidence that the boats were ferrying drugs.
Lawmakers have been scrutinizing the second strike. The admiral who apparently oversaw the operation, Frank Bradley, briefed members of Congress in a classified session.
Afterward, Connecticut Democrat Jim Himes called the double-tap video "one of the most troubling things" he'd been shown as a lawmaker.
"Any American who sees the video that I saw will see the United States military attacking shipwrecked sailors - bad guys, bad guys, but attacking shipwrecked sailors," he added.
CNN reported Friday that two sources with knowledge of Bradley's remarks said the admiral told lawmakers the boat in question was bound for Suriname, a country east of Venezuela, where the struck boat could have planned to rendezvous with another vessel.
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