Trump taps Marine general to lead Southcom amid controversial boat strikes, Venezuela campaign
President Donald Trump nominated a Marine general with special operations experience to lead U.S. Southern Command, the Pentagon announced Friday, about a week after the organization’s former commander retired amid the administration’s controversial boat strikes.
Lt. Gen. Francis Donovan currently serves as the vice commander for U.S. Special Operations Command. His nomination was referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, but the congressional notice did not specify for which position.
If confirmed, Donovan would receive a fourth star and take over Southcom at a tumultuous time. The organization has overseen nearly 30 lethal strikes against alleged drug smuggling vessels in both the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, according to officials. Those strikes have killed more than 100 people, sparking intense criticism from academics, experts and members of Congress from both parties over their legality.
Adm. Alvin Holsey abruptly announced his retirement this fall, saying that he would step down as Southcom commander in December. He officially retired last week. The New York Times reported that the admiral had early concerns about the administration’s push to bomb alleged drug boats and fell out of favor with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
The Washington Post reported Hegseth had given the military an order ahead of the first strike to kill all of the vessel’s occupants. To comply with the directive, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command Adm. Frank Bradley ordered a second strike that killed two survivors, according to the Post, further igniting questions over the campaign’s legal justification and whether the second strike amounted to a war crime. On Thursday, Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said “I have seen no evidence of war crimes,” POLITICO reported.
Hegseth recently said he would not release videos of the second strike, despite publishing other unclassified videos from the campaign — dubbed Operation Southern Spear — and Trump initially telling reporters his administration would release it before he backtracked.
The administration’s latest strike occurred on Thursday, the same day Donovan’s nomination was received by the Senate. Trump has said these strikes are part of a “non-international armed conflict” to curb narcotics trafficking into the U.S.
But the administration’s message about the boat strikes has been frequently muddled by its campaign against Nicolas Maduro, the authoritarian president of Venezuela. Trump has amassed an enormous military presence off the country’s coast, imposed a blockade of its sanctioned oil tankers and authorized the use of covert-CIA actions in Venezuela, among other pressures against Maduro.
In a recently published interview with Vanity Fair, Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles said “he wants to keep blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle,” suggesting that the lethal strikes may be less about narcotics trafficking and more about deposing Venezuela’s dictatorial president.
Donovan served as an infantry and special operations officer, according to his biography. He commanded two naval task forces, 2nd Marine Division and was the assistant commanding general for Joint Special Operations Command before becoming vice commander of SOCOM.
