Overview
- USNI News reports the carrier is operating in U.S. Southern Command waters, corroborated by sightings of escort USS Bainbridge off Puerto Rico.
- The strike group was tasked on Oct. 24 to leave the Mediterranean and transited the Strait of Gibraltar on Nov. 4 before moving into the Caribbean.
- The deployment adds to a growing naval presence that includes the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, several guided-missile destroyers, a cruiser and a littoral combat ship.
- The U.S. campaign has targeted suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, with officials citing 19 strikes and 76 killed.
- Reporting says Justice Department guidance cautioned against strikes inside Venezuela, and officials told Congress the president was not planning such attacks.