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U.S. Southern Command<\/span>, which oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, is in turmoil after the announcement of the sudden retirement of the four-star Navy admiral overseeing that region where President Donald Trump is waging an undeclared war on supposed drug smugglers.<\/p>\n The discontent came to a head after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced<\/a> that Adm. Alvin Holsey would step down at the end of the year, two years ahead of schedule, one government official told The Intercept.\u00a0\u201cPeople are angry,\u201d the official said. Another said some in key positions at SOUTHCOM were \u201cdisillusioned.\u201d They were among three government officials with knowledge of strife at the combatant command who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity.\u00a0<\/p>\n Holsey has not commented publicly on the reasons for his premature departure. This has led to speculation by officials at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill that he may have questioned the legality or ethics of Trump\u2019s attacks in the waters near Venezuela; have been upset about being forced into a subservient role in Trump\u2019s war as Special Operations Command usurped his authority; or was pushed out as part of Hegseth\u2019s much-publicized anti-diversity campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAdm. Holsey is not available for interviews at this time,\u201d Col. Emanuel Ortiz, Southern Command\u2019s chief of public affairs, told The Intercept. In response to questions about Holsey\u2019s impending departure and reports of strife at the command, spokesperson Lt. Col. Dustin Cammack said, \u201cSOUTHCOM has nothing additional to add.\u201d He referred questions about Southern Command to the White House.<\/p>\n The White House did not respond to repeated requests for answers.<\/p>\n The United States has launched attacks on at least seven boats in the Caribbean since September, reportedly killing 32 people. On Wednesday, Hegseth announced\u00a0strikes on two boats<\/a>\u00a0in the Pacific that left five people dead. The first strike took place on Tuesday and killed two people, he said. A second strike took place on Wednesday, killing three others.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Trump teased the possibility of similar strikes on land. \u201cWe will hit them very hard when they come in by land,\u201d said the president. \u201cWe\u2019ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we\u2019re doing when [they] come to the land.\u201d<\/p>\n Although these strikes are being conducted in SOUTHCOM\u2019s area of operations, they have been carried out by elite Special Operations forces from Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, which is headed\u00a0\u2014 as of earlier this month \u2014 by U.S. Navy Adm. Frank \u201cMitch\u201d Bradley.<\/p>\n The attacks on boats are part of a war being waged by the Trump administration without the consent of Congress, according to a\u00a0confidential notice<\/a>\u00a0that was sent to several congressional committees earlier this month.\u00a0Legal experts \u2014 including former government lawyers who specialized in determinations regarding the\u00a0laws of war<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0extrajudicial killings<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and lawmakers say the strikes violate U.S. and international law.<\/p>\n Last week, Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; Tim Kaine, D-Va.; and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., introduced a War Powers Resolution <\/a>that would block the military from engaging in hostilities within or against Venezuela, after Trump confirmed that he secretly authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in that country and threatened attacks<\/a> on Venezuelan territory.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s summary execution!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t blow up boats off Miami because 25 percent of the time suspicion is wrong. We shouldn\u2019t do it off Venezuela either. These are small outboards with no fentanyl and no path to Florida,\u201d Paul told The Intercept. \u201cWe can\u2019t just kill indiscriminately because we are not at war. It\u2019s summary execution! Everyone gets a trial because sometimes the system gets it wrong. Even the worst of the worst in our country get due process. The bottom line is that execution without process is not justice, and blowing up foreign ships is a recipe for chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep.\u00a0Adam Smith, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, appealed for a hearing on the attacks. \u201cI call on Speaker Johnson to immediately bring the House back into session to not only work to end the Republican shutdown, but to also enable the committees to conduct critical oversight,\u201d Smith\u00a0said in a statement<\/a>\u00a0Monday.\u00a0\u201cThe House Armed Services Committee must convene a hearing to secure answers to the questions about military operations in the Caribbean and for the SOUTHCOM Commander to testify on these matters.\u201d<\/p>\n The Caribbean campaign began with attacks on supposed\u00a0Venezuelan \u201cnarco-terrorists,\u201d<\/a> but the attacks have since also killed or injured civilians from Colombia, Ecuador, and Trinidad<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n An attack on a semi-submersible vessel last week killed at least two people and led to the capture of two others who became the first prisoners<\/a> of the Trump administration\u2019s undeclared war against undisclosed \u201cnarcoterrorist\u201d groups. Trump announced<\/a> on Saturday that the two men were \u201cbeing returned to their Countries of origin, Ecuador and Colombia.\u201d Asked why the two survivors were not taken to the U.S. to be prosecuted, Vice President JD Vance replied<\/a>: \u201cWhat happens to them? I don\u2019t really care, so long as they\u2019re not bringing poison into our country.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a member of the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, questioned the decision at a security conference<\/a> on Wednesday. \u201cIf these are narco-terrorists, as Secretary Hegseth reports, then why did we just repatriate two of them back to their country of origin, if they\u2019re such bad guys?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Both Smith and<\/span> Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, have drawn attention to the unorthodox nature <\/a>of Holsey\u2019s impending departure, less than one year into what is typically a three-year job.<\/p>\n \u201cNever before in my over 20 years on the committee can I recall seeing a combatant commander leave their post this early and amid such turmoil,\u201d Smith said on Monday.\u00a0Reed said Holsey\u2019s \u201cunexpected resignation is troubling.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt a moment when U.S. forces are building up across the Caribbean and tensions with Venezuela are at a boiling point, the departure of our top military commander in the region sends an alarming signal of instability within the chain of command,\u201d Reed said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cAdmiral Holsey\u2019s resignation only deepens my concern that this administration is ignoring the hard-earned lessons of previous U.S. military campaigns and the advice of our most experienced warfighters.\u201d<\/p>\n Numerous outlets<\/a> have reported that Holsey and Hegseth were reportedly at odds<\/a>. Some have suggested that Holsey objected to the attacks for being extrajudicial killings. The War Department has pushed back hard on these allegations. \u201cThis is a total lie. Never happened. There was no hesitation or concerns about this mission,\u201d spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cJust more Fake News.\u201d<\/p>\n All of the government officials who spoke to The Intercept about SOUTHCOM said that they were unsure if Holsey had any legal, moral, or ethical objections to the attacks, but that the nature of the war, which is being conducted by elite Special Operations forces, made Holsey\u2019s position untenable. They said that the admiral had been effectively sidelined, with Special Operations Command conducting its war in his area of operations. They also said Holsey was read-in late on operations, provided inadequate information, and forced to coordinate with SOCOM on little notice.<\/p>\n The official who said some key personnel at SOUTHCOM were \u201cdisillusioned\u201d spoke in general terms about pressures from outside the command and a lack of confidence in leadership at the Pentagon. \u201cPeople are trying to keep their heads down,\u201d the official said, while noting that many wish Holsey had been explicit about his reasons for retiring early.<\/p>\n \u201cI can only guess, and frankly hope, that his resignation was in protest.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Wes Bryant \u2014 who served until earlier this year as the senior analyst and adviser on precision warfare, targeting, and civilian harm mitigation at the Pentagon\u2019s Civilian Protection Center of Excellence \u2014 said that the chatter about internal dissent at SOUTHCOM raised questions about the reasons behind Holsey\u2019s premature departure. \u201cI can only guess, and frankly hope, that his resignation was in protest,\u201d said Bryant, who also hoped that Holsey might have initiated an investigation by SOUTHCOM\u2019s inspector general into attacks that Bryant called a \u201cblatant violation of not only international law but the Constitution.\u201d He continued, \u201cTime will reveal that, but I find his silence so far even more telling.\u201d<\/p>\n Some SOUTHCOM officials are reportedly unnerved by the strikes and uncertain of their legality, according to the same government officials. Bryant said that Civilian Harm Mitigation Teams<\/a> \u2014 which provided guidance on protecting noncombatants \u2014 were mostly dissolved<\/a> across all combatant commands, including SOUTHCOM, during the first half of the year. \u201cThey gave the duty as a secondary duty \u2014 at best \u2014 to a couple of staff members to basically just be able to say they still have a \u2018civharm\u2019 mitigation team,\u201d he told The Intercept.<\/p>\n Bryant said that SOUTHCOM now lacked a dedicated civilian harm mitigation officer or teams focused on lessening the potential for civilian casualties during the planning and targeting process, as well as mitigating broader harm and potential effects of attacks across the region.<\/p>\n \u201cThey would have also been looking at the implications to the local and regional shipping, fishing and other industries,\u201d he said. \u201cThey would also have looked at the psychological effects of these strikes on the Venezuelan civilian populace and even the environmental effects of whatever is on board these ships, if they are struck in a fishing region.\u201d<\/p>\n Cammack did not reply to specific questions regarding civilian harm mitigation personnel at SOUTHCOM. Return receipts show that the queries were read by multiple personnel at the command.<\/p>\n Trump<\/a> and Vance<\/a> have repeatedly joked about the strikes upending the lives<\/a> of subsistence fishermen in the Caribbean. Trump noted<\/a> that the number of vessels on the water had, within weeks, shrunk from \u201chundreds\u201d to \u201cno boats\u201d during remarks in September. \u201cNobody wants to go fishing,\u201d said<\/a> Trump at a White House dinner last week to a chorus of laughs. \u201cThey might as well get rid of their boat.\u201d<\/p>\n Holsey revealed his looming retirement on Southern Command\u2019s Facebook page<\/a> less than a week after Hegseth announced the creation <\/a>of a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force in the SOUTHCOM region.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been an honor to serve our nation, the American people and support and defend our Constitution for over 37 years,\u201d Holsey wrote on Facebook. \u201cThe SOUTHCOM team has made lasting contributions to the defense of our nation and will continue to do so. I am confident that you will forge ahead, focused on your mission that strengthens our nation and ensures its longevity as a beacon of freedom around the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n Holsey is not the only senior military leader rumored to have feuded with Hegseth over Trump\u2019s latest undeclared war.<\/p>\n Several government officials\u00a0suggested <\/a>to The Intercept that Rear Adm. Milton \u201cJamie\u201d Sands III, head of Naval Special Warfare Command, was\u00a0fired<\/a>\u00a0by Hegseth in August due to the admiral\u2019s concerns about impending attacks on civilian vessels. Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson denied the officials\u2019 claims. Sands did not respond to repeated requests by The Intercept for an interview.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
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