As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke Tuesday about a deadly U.S. military attack on a boat in the Caribbean, he referred to “the fog of war,” a phrase that has been used in war planning for centuries.

“I did not personally see survivors,” he said at a Cabinet meeting in the White House, referring to people who were clinging to the boat’s wreckage between two U.S. strikes Sept. 2. “The thing was on fire. It exploded; there’s fire; there’s smoke.

“This is called the fog of war,” he added.

Here’s what the term means and why Hegseth’s remarks matter.

What Was the Context for the Remarks?

Starting with that September attack, which killed 11 people, the U.S. military has been striking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific that the Trump administration says are smuggling drug

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