Cannot erase external hard drive on Mac using 3 or 7 passes

As things stand now, there have been some changes in Disk Utility features.

SSDs in particular don't get that option. Its use is only appropriate with hard disk drives. And even then, the ooption may not be presented.

Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support

❝(Optional) If available, click Security Options, use the slider to choose how many times to write over the erased data, then click OK.

Secure erase options are available only for some types of storage devices. If the Security Options button is not available, Disk Utility cannot perform a secure erase on the storage device.

❞

That kind of eraser only prematurely wears out the drive. There are no consumer available utilities that can recover data from even a one pass overwrite.

If you have data on the drive you consider that sensitive, then the only true solution is to remove the drive, take it apart and physically destroy the platters.