Overview
- With a dozen F-22s departing Puerto Rico on Jan. 4, the White House is signaling no broad ground reinsertion and emphasizing a naval oil embargo and interdictions backed by carrier and amphibious groups that remain on station.
- Pentagon leaders detailed a 150-plus–aircraft effort that inserted Delta Force and law enforcement by 160th SOAR helicopters, struck air-defense sites with fighters and B-1 bombers, and extracted Nicolás Maduro via USS Iwo Jima with one U.S. aircraft reported hit but flyable.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said nearly 200 personnel executed the downtown Caracas seizure, and President Donald Trump said a prepared “second wave” now appears unnecessary as Washington works with remaining Venezuelan authorities.
- Experts attribute Venezuela’s failure to engage to U.S. cyber and electronic attacks, poor command-and-control and readiness, fixed-site vulnerabilities, and limited Russian capacity to assist, rather than a single hardware shortcoming.
- Officials credited Space Command and Cyber Command with “layered effects” and widespread power outages were reported in Caracas; sightings of an RQ-170 drone and possible loitering munitions were reported by media but have not been officially confirmed.