Protecting the homeland: Secretary Hegseth directs Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Caribbean
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has directed the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the U.S. South Command Area of Responsibility as war against narco-terrorism heats up
by Summer Lane | October 24, 2025
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made a big decision on Friday by deploying the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier wing to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) Area of Responsibility (AOR) in the Caribbean, amid the Trump administration’s war against deadly terrorist drug cartels.
Sean Parnell, assistant to the Secretary of War, said this was in support of President Trump’s directive to both dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations and counter narco-terrorism operations.
“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” Parnell said in a statement.
He continued, “These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs.”
This new development comes just hours after Secretary Hegseth announced that the Department of War carried out a “lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua” in the Caribbean Sea overnight.
He said, “Six male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters—and was the first strike at night. All six terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.
The war against the cartels has heated up over the past few weeks as the U.S. has continually ordered strikes against these narco-terrorist vessels in international waters.
During a televised meeting at the White House on Thursday, President Donald Trump noted, “Under the Trump administration, we are finally treating the cartels as the core national security threat that they are …we are waging war on them like they’ve never seen before.”
In response to leftist criticism of the president’s decision to aggressively pursue justice against drug trafficking cartels, former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn suggested that this was a big part of President Trump’s “AMERICA FIRST” approach that aims at bringing Nicolas Maduro, the disputed leader of Venezuela, to heel.
Flynn wrote, “It is an operation to stop this madman from killing U.S. citizens to the tune of hundreds of thousands of American lives annually on the streets of America. And this must end. In my judgement, that is part of our overall ‘AMERICA FIRST’ policy. The mutual respect we need for any people and all leaders who seek and are willing to fight for their freedom from the yoke of tyranny must never waiver.”
Photo: Adobe Stock
