U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday. Early news reports suggested Hegseth issued a verbal order for the second strike.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cited the “fog of war” in defending a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea earlier this year.

During Tuesday’s cabinet meeting at the White House, Hegseth said that he did not see that there were survivors in the water when the second strike was ordered and launched in early September, saying that “the thing was on fire” and citing the “fog of war” in defending the strike. Hegseth also said he “didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the mission following the first strike, and said that the admiral in charge had “made the right call” in orderin

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