Operation Southern Spear latest price tag is up to $820 million

The War Department has spent roughly $820 million during Operation Southern Spear, the U.S military’s mission to lethally target alleged drug smuggling vessels coming from Central and South America, which began nearly a year ago.U.S. Southern Command obligated $173.9 million for Operation Southern Spear during the second quarter of this year, a significant decrease from the previous quarter, in which they said they spent approximately $527.9 million. The mission prior to that cost $119.1 million, which brings the total cost to date to $820.9 million.The first U.S. strike on Sept. 2, 2025, and in total, U.S. forces have targeted 66 vessels, killed 218 mariners, and rescued four stranded survivors. Of the 66 strikes, 47 of them took place in the eastern Pacific, 17 were in the Caribbean, and the locations of two remain unknown. The updated statistics were revealed in a new Inspector General report on Thursday by the Pentagon, State Department, and USAID offices of inspectors general. The authors of the report attributed the significant drop in cost between Jan. 1 and March 31 and April 1 through June 10 due to SOUTHCOM’s transition into steady state operations and the departure of a significant number of U.S. ships and personnel from the joint area operations.Some Navy assets were also in the region but not for Operation Southern Spear, such as with the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier and two Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers that participated in the Southern Seas 2026 deployment to enhance interoperability. In late June, the USS San Antonio, USS Fort Lauderdale, and USS Billings were redeployed to support the humanitarian relief efforts in response to the earthquakes in Venezuela.The inspectors general report notes that designated terrorist organizations have developed alternative smuggling routes, like shifting to land routes or planting the drugs in container ships, often hidden among legitimate goods, while absorbing any product losses on small boats that get targeted by U.S. forces.The Coast Guard has typically led the U.S.’s efforts to stop drug smuggling, and they would do the mission through nonlethal interdictions. President Donald Trump ultimately ordered the U.S. military to deploy significant naval resources and air assets to the Caribbean Sea last August, before carrying out the first lethal strike on Sept. 2.The Pentagon and the administration maintain that the strikes are legal even though critics have questioned the legality of the operations.It’s unclear exactly how SOUTHCOM decides whether to blow up a suspected drug vessel or have the Coast Guard interdict it. SOUTHCOM told the inspector general, for its report on the first quarter results released in May, that it could not answer that question in a “publicly releasable” way.How they determine targets is the subject of a separate War Department Inspector General “evaluation” announced in May.The families of two Trinidadian men who were killed in a U.S. strike on their vessel on Oct. 14, 2025, filed a lawsuit against the United States in a Massachusetts court in January.The president has prioritized defending the U.S. homeland since returning to the White House, and the administration is considering several different ways to do that outside of the boat strikes.The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy, released in December 2025, states its goal is to “ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States,” and they want the regional governments to “cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations.”Earlier this year, Trump announced the “Americas Counter Cartel Coalition,” which is a voluntary hemispheric effort uniting 18 partners across the Western Hemisphere.PENTAGON INSPECTOR GENERAL TO REVIEW US STRIKES ON SUSPECTED DRUG BOATSThe U.S. military carried out an airstrike in June in coordination with Venezuela targeting Hector Rusthenfold Guerrero Flores, the leader of Tren de Aragua, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. There was also a joint U.S.-Ecuadorian operation targeting a training camp used by the Comandos de la Frontera. Panama has allowed the U.S. to conduct jungle training and other exercises on its soil, while El Salvador has opened bases to armed U.S. aircraft. Guatemala has said it wants “to lead, with U.S. assistance, active military operations” against U.S.-designated terrorist organizations within the country.Other countries in the region such as Argentina, Belize, and Costa Rica have a cooperative and U.S.-friendly stance on regional security, while Colombia and Nicaragua prefer nonlethal U.S. interdictions.