The United States upped the ante in the burgeoning drug war/pressure campaign focused on Venezuela on Friday, ordering the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) to cut short its deployment in the Mediterranean and head to the Caribbean to join U.S. Southern Command. The Ford will be accompanied by the remainder of Carrier Strike Group 12: the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Mahan (DDG-72), USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81), and USS Bainbridge (DDG-96).
Department of War Spokesman Sean Parnell issued a statement shortly after noon on Friday, revealing the new orders for the USS Ford.
STATEMENT: In support of the President’s directive to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland, the Secretary of War has directed the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier air wing to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR).
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. These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs.
BACKGROUND:
US Dusts Off War Plans Against Venezuela As Caribbean Troop Build-Up Gains Velocity – RedState
The Ford Carrier Strike Group will join an impressive array of forces already deployed to the USSOUTHCOM AOR.
- Amphibious assault ships USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) (flagship), USS San Antonio (LPD-17), USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28), with about 2,000 Marines of the Camp Lejeune-based 22d Marine Expeditionary Unit.
- Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109), USS Gravely (DDG-107), USS Stockdale (DDG-106), and USS Sampson (DDG-102)
- Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG-70).
- Littoral combat ship USS Wichita (LCS-13) — in case things are slow and they need practice towing things to port.
- Allegedly, a nuclear submarine has joined the flotilla; this is probably one that has been modified to deliver SEAL teams (for more information, see Classified Navy SEAL Mission Leaked to Damage President Trump Harms National Security Instead).
- At least 10 F-35 fighters (Aguadilla's Rafael Hernández Airport) and three AC-130J gunships (Ceiba's José Aponte de la Torre Airport) have also deployed to the AOR.
A week ago, three USAF B-52 bombers flew just outside Venezuelan airspace. On Thursday, it was two B-1B bombers in the same area.
In a press conference on Thursday, President Trump for the first time broached the idea of Congressional notification for military action in Venezuela.
NOW - Trump says he will notify Congress of U.S. military strikes likely to occur against drug traffickers on foreign soil: "We have to do it to save lives." pic.twitter.com/ucUHb0V7jL
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) October 22, 2025
President Trump said Thursday he will inform Congress of his plans to attack land-based cartel targets in Venezuela as he looks to expand his thus-far seaborne military campaign.
“We’re going to go [to Congress]. I don’t see any loss in going — no reason not to,” Trump told reporters at a White House event touting a federal crackdown that’s arrested roughly 3,200 alleged drug cartel members over the past month.
“You know they will always complain, ‘Oh, we should have gone.’ So we’re going to definitely,” Trump said.
The president turned to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, seated to his right, and told him, “I’d like to just tell you, ‘Let’s go.’ We’ll go. We’re going to tell them what we’re going to do, and I think they’re going to probably like it, except for the radical left lunatics.”
The logic of a military build-up is fairly predictable. It is a classic "use it or lose it" game. If you don't use the force, eventually the force has to go home. When it goes home, people named Nicolás Maduro mock you. Many indicators suggest the White House has already decided to take a shot at Maduro.