War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the commencement of Operation Southern Spear on Thursday evening, an operation he said is aimed at protecting the Western Hemisphere from “narcoterrorists.”
The announcement comes after months of U.S. Southern Command strikes in the Caribbean on alleged drug-trafficking boats, many of which the Pentagon said were suspected of sailing from the shores of Venezuela. Hegseth made the operation announcement in a post on X, noting that President Donald Trump ordered the action.
“Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and @SOUTHCOM, this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood – and we will protect it,” Hegseth said.
The Trump administration ordered a 20th strike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat Tuesday, killing four people in the Caribbean.
Hegseth’s announcement of the operation follows the arrival of the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group in the Caribbean as the Pentagon bolsters its military presence in the region.
Venezuela has begun organizing its defense forces, with Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announcing this week that the “entire country’s military arsenal” is “on full operational readiness.”
The Pentagon referred the Washington Examiner to Hegseth’s X post in response to requests for comment on further information about Operation Southern Spear.
The Pentagon also pointed to SOUTHCOM’s Oct. 10 press release on the creation of the Joint Task Force Southern Spear, which Hegseth said will lead Operation Southern Spear.
“This is principally a maritime effort, and our team will leverage maritime patrols, aerial surveillance, precision interdictions, and intelligence sharing to counter illicit traffic, uphold the rule of law, and ultimately better protect vulnerable communities here at home,” Lt. Gen. Calvert Worth, designated JTF commander, said in the October release.
In late January, the Navy announced an “Operation Southern Spear” in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.
VENEZUELA ORDERS MAJOR MOBILIZATION AS US AIRCRAFT CARRIER ARRIVES IN NEARBY WATERS
The operation’s deployment was “to help determine combinations of unmanned vehicles and manned forces to provide coordinated maritime domain awareness and conduct counternarcotics operations,” according to a January press release.
“Southern Spear will operationalize a heterogeneous mix of Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) to support the detection and monitoring of illicit trafficking while learning lessons for other theaters,” Commander Foster Edwards, hybrid director of the U.S. 4th Fleet, said in a January statement.
Mike Brest contributed to this story.
