Overview
- Adm. Alvin Holsey handed over U.S. Southern Command to Air Force Lt. Gen. Evan Pettus at a ceremony near Miami, retiring about a year into a tour that typically lasts three to four years.
- Reuters, citing U.S. officials and others, reported Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed Holsey out, while Holsey told senior lawmakers his decision was personal and not tied to operations.
- The transition follows an expanded campaign that has destroyed roughly 22–23 suspected drug-smuggling boats and killed 87 people, including a disputed Sept. 2 follow-on strike now under review on Capitol Hill.
- Holsey and the Special Operations admiral who approved the follow-on strike have delivered classified briefings to lawmakers, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said the operation he reviewed appeared appropriate.
- U.S. forces in the Caribbean have grown to about 15,000 with the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier group as pressure on Venezuela increases, a sanctioned oil tanker was seized this week, and officials have floated reviving Monroe Doctrine language.