Hegseth cites 'fog of war' in defending follow-on strike on alleged drug
boat
[December 03, 2025]
By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday cited the
“fog of war” in defending a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying
boat in the Caribbean Sea in early September.
During a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Hegseth said he did not see
any survivors in the water, saying the vessel "exploded in fire, smoke,
you can’t see anything. ... This is called the fog of war.”
Hegseth also said he “didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the
Sept. 2 mission following the initial strike and the admiral in charge
“made the right call” in ordering the second hit, which he “had complete
authority to do.”
Lawmakers have opened investigations following a Washington Post report
that Hegseth issued a verbal order to “kill everybody” on the boat, the
first vessel hit in the Trump administration's counterdrug campaign in
the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that has grown to over 20 known
strikes and more than 80 dead.
The U.S. also has built up its largest military presence in the region
in generations, and many see the actions as a tactic to pressure
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to resign.
While several legal experts have told The Associated Press they believed
the second strike violated peacetime laws and those governing armed
conflict, the Pentagon’s own manual on the laws of armed conflict also
specifically cites striking survivors of a sunken ship as being patently
illegal.
“Orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal," the
manual says.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday distanced himself from the secondary
strike, which the news report said killed two survivors who were
clinging to the wreckage.
Trump said he “didn’t know anything” and that he “still hasn’t gotten a
lot of information because I rely on Pete,” referencing Hegseth, when
asked if he supported the second strike.
“I didn’t know anything about people. I wasn’t involved in it,” he
added.
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President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White
House, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington, as Defense Secretary
Pete Hegseth looks on. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Hegseth, sitting next to Trump at the Cabinet meeting, said Trump
has empowered “commanders to do what is necessary, which is dark and
difficult things in the dead of night on behalf of the American
people.”
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said earlier in the day
that all of the strikes have been “presidentially directed and the
chain of command functions as it should.”
“At the end of the day, the secretary and the president are the ones
directing these strikes,” Wilson said while speaking to handpicked
outlets at an event at the Pentagon.
The Trump administration has suggested that the admiral overseeing
the operation made the actual decision to conduct a second strike.
Trump called him an “extraordinary person” on Tuesday and said “I
want those boats taken out, and if we have to, will attack on land
also, just like we attack on sea.”
The White House said Monday that Navy Vice Adm. Frank “Mitch”
Bradley acted “within his authority and the law” when he ordered the
second strike, while Hegseth said on social media that he stood by
Bradley “and the combat decisions he has made."
Bradley is expected to provide a classified briefing Thursday to
lawmakers overseeing the military.
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Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard contributed.
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