WATCH: Hegseth says he ‘didn’t stick around’ after giving order for 1st boat strike on Sept. 2

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that he learned about the second strike on an alleged drug boat on Sept. 2 hours after giving the order for the first strike.

Watch the clip in the video player above.

After the first strike, “I moved on to my next meeting,” Hegseth said. “A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the [decision], which he had the complete authority to do, and, by the way, Adm. Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.”

WATCH: ‘That 2nd strike was a violation of the laws of war,’ former senior military lawyer says

PBS News Hour foreign affairs and defense correspondent Nick Schifrin reported Tuesday that, according to a U.S. official, the U.S. military struck the boat on Sept. 2 a total of four times: twice to kill the 11 people who were on board, and twice more to sink the boat.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the military fired twice on a single alleged drug boat on Sept. 2, identifying U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Frank Bradley as having ordered the second strike. She said he “worked well within his authority and the law.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have voiced concerns that a strike on a suspected drug boat in early September may have violated the law after a report suggested that the military fired a second time to kill survivors. Congressional committees say they will investigate the incident.

WATCH: White House says U.S. fired twice at alleged drug boat, raising bipartisan legal concerns

Hegseth defended the decision for the second strike, saying the Defense Department gathers detailed and “rigorous” information on each of the vessels they strike.

“We know who’s on it, what they’re doing, what they’re carrying, all these white bales are not Christmas gifts from Santa,” he said. “This is drugs, running on four motor fast boats or submarines that we’ve also struck.”

The Trump administration has attacked at least 21 boats and killed more than 80 people as part of its campaign strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.