Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pointed to what he called “the fog of war” in defending a follow-up military strike on an alleged drug boat in September that reportedly killed survivors of the initial attack.
"I didn't personally see survivors," Hegseth told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday. "The thing was on fire. It was exploded in fire and smoke. You can’t see it."
He added, “This is called the fog of war.”
In September, U.S. forces conducted a strike on a boat in the Caribbean Sea suspected of smuggling drugs, then ordered a second strike after the first failed to kill all of the vessel’s occupants, one U.S. official and a source familiar with the Pentagon’s actions that day told NBC News.
The boat was carrying a total of 11 individuals, the Pentagon said at the time of the strike. Since then, the U.S. has conducted more than 20 strikes on purported drug vessels it says are carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing more than 80 people.
In response, bipartisan lawmakers in both the House and the Senate have started inquiries into the strikes, which critics have said could constitute a war crime.
Hegseth’s comments come as President Donald Trump and the White House have stepped in to defend him amid scrutiny over the attack. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said that Hegseth authorized Adm. Frank Bradley, the Special Operations commander, to order the strikes.
The Washington Post was first to report the second strike in the Sept. 2 boat attack.
Hegseth took questions about the “double tap” strikes during the meeting and offered new details.
He watched the first strike live before moving on to other meetings, he said, and did not personally see any survivors. Nor did Hegseth witness the second strike, he said, claiming he learned about it later. Still, he said he supported the decision to strike the boat and described a rigorous and deliberative process to identify what the U.S. says are drug-carrying vessels.
“Adm. Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat,” Hegseth said. “We have his back.”
Asked about the precise timing of the second strike, Hegseth demurred.
Trump, after reiterating that he and Hegseth were unaware of the second strike, said he would defer to his defense secretary on the details. "Pete has done an amazing job," he said. "You could probably better answer the question."
Asked Sunday about the second deadly strike, Trump said Hegseth "said he did not order the death of those two men." He added that he believed him but would not have wanted that. "The first strike was very lethal; it was fine," Trump said.
During Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Trump warned that the U.S. would “start doing those strikes on land, too,” to stop alleged drug traffickers, echoing remarks he made last week.
"I hear Colombia is making cocaine," Trump said. "Anybody doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack.”
Even as the president has increased military pressure, Trump has said that he could still hold talks with Venezuela’s president, suggesting a possible diplomatic off-ramp. Over the weekend, he confirmed a phone call with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, though he declined to offer details of the conversation.
“I wouldn’t say it went well, or badly,” Trump said of the call aboard Air Force One. “It was a phone call.”
