The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 3 plus 2 plus 3 letter word THE FOG OF WAR
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
T
H
E
F
O
G
O
F
W
A
R
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Confusion resulting from action" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case confusion resulting from action = the fog of war.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.