Hegseth says he 'did not see any survivors' before second strike on Venezuelan drug boat

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said that he “did not personally see survivors” before a second attack on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat was ordered. His statement comes as the Trump administration faces heat from lawmakers over the use of military force.

An initial strike reportedly left two survivors clinging to the burning vessel, but a second strike was allegedly ordered, killing them. The September 2 strike has raised concerns that US forces may have breached the laws of armed conflict.

Hegseth attributed the strike to he “fog of war” in a chaotic situation as he addressed a Cabinet meeting. Meanwhile, the White House has reiterated that the second strike was authorised by top US Navy admiral Frank Bradley.

What did Hegseth say?

Responding to a question by a journalist during the Cabinet meeting, Hegseth said that while he saw the first strike “live”, the second attack occurred in his absence as he had “quickly moved on to another meeting.”

“I did not personally see survivors. That thing was on fire and it exploded… you can’t see anything. This is called the fog of war,” the secretary said.

As the Trump administration pins the episode on Bradley, Hegseth said that he learned about the admiral’s “correct decision” of striking the boat for a second time " a couple of hours later."

President Trump also defended Adm. Bradley, but he distanced himself from the decision to carry out the second strike, saying “we didn’t know about” the follow-on attack.

“And I can say this: I want those boats taken out,” Trump added.

‘We’ve only begun’

The United States has “only just begun” targeting alleged drug-trafficking boats, Hegseth insisted Tuesday, despite a growing outcry over strikes that critics say amount to extrajudicial killings.

“We’ve only just begun striking narco boats and putting narco-terrorists at the bottom of the ocean, because they’ve been poisoning the American people,” Hegseth said during a Tuesday cabinet meeting.

“We’ve had a bit of a pause because it’s hard to find boats to strike right now – which is the entire point, right? Deterrence has to matter,” Hegseth said.

With inputs from agencies