The president’s nominee to be the next commander of U.S. Southern Command declined to answer several questions during his confirmation hearing on Thursday about the military operations near Venezuela.
Marine Corps Lieutenant General Francis Donovan, who serves as Vice Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), appeared in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday morning for his confirmation hearing alongside Lieutenant General Joshua Rudd, the president’s nominee to be the next Director of National Security Agency and commander of U.S. Cyber Command.
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Many of the committee members’ questions for Donovan centered on his view of the military’s operations in the Western Hemisphere in the last several months — ranging from the lethal targeting of purported drug boats heading for the U.S., to the mission to capture now-former dictator Nicolas Maduro, and the ongoing military blockade focusing on illegal oil tankers. But he sidestepped many of those questions.
“In my current role as Vice Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, I’m not connected to any current planning operations or future planning in Southern Command,” he said in response to a question from Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS).
The chairman followed up, asking if he had “any ideas about to what extent or in what way you’ll be involved,” to which Donovan responded, “Senator, again, if confirmed, my responsibility is that everything that happens in Southern Command is my responsibility inside that [area of responsibility].”
After he gave a similarly evasive non-answer to ranking member Jack Reed (D-RI), Wicker interjected, “It’s OK for you two gentlemen to tell us how you feel. We realize that you haven’t been confirmed yet, but so far, we really haven’t received any answers about how you feel about the responsibility you’re about to take on.”
The SOUTHCOM combatant command had largely been a lower priority compared to CENTCOM in the Middle East and INDOPACOM in the Pacific region, but the Trump administration has changed that with its newfound prioritization of the Western Hemisphere. And as a result of that change, Donovan will be responsible for leading the combatant command into this new chapter.
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SOUTHCOM is currently led in an acting capacity by Air Force Lieutenant General Evan L. Pettus, who took over the position after the administration pushed for the retirement of Admiral Alvin Holsey, who only served about one year in his three-year position before he stepped down.
Holsey oversaw the beginning of the U.S. military’s buildup in the Caribbean and the early stages of the boat strikes, but had already retired at the time of the Maduro capture operation.
