The U.S. Southern Command has activated a permanent military headquarters to coordinate operations against drug cartels and other transnational criminal organizations across Latin America and the Caribbean, formalizing a broader expansion of the military's regional security mission under the Trump administration.
The new Joint Task Force–Western Hemisphere, activated Monday, replaces the temporary Joint Task Force Southern Spear established in 2025.
Unlike its predecessor, the new command is designed as a standing headquarters that integrates intelligence, surveillance, operational planning and multinational coordination with partner nations, The Miami Herald reports. It will also work alongside the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, an alliance of 18 countries created earlier this year to strengthen intelligence sharing and regional cooperation.
SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan described the organization as the military's "action arm" in the hemisphere. "We will locate, close with, and destroy these threats," Donovan said in a video announcing the activation. "We will apply total systemic friction to these organizations... We are now changing the game."
Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Kevin Jarrard will lead the headquarters, which officials said is intended to increase the tempo of multinational operations while improving command and control across the region.
The activation comes as the administration continues to expand the military's role in combating drug trafficking, including Operation Southern Spear, which has involved U.S. military strikes against suspected drug-smuggling vessels in international waters since last year.
A Washington Post investigation published Tuesday, citing a previously undisclosed DEA assessment and congressional briefings, reported that the strikes have not reduced the supply, purity or price of cocaine entering the United States. According to the assessment, trafficking organizations have instead adapted by shifting to larger commercial vessels, alternative maritime routes closer to coastlines and increased use of aircraft departing from clandestine airstrips along the Colombia-Venezuela border.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell defended the campaign, telling The Post that traffickers' evolving tactics demonstrate that the United States is "imposing systemic friction" on criminal organizations.
The strategy has also drawn legal scrutiny, mainly from Democratic leaders. CNN reported Tuesday that Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., is argued the military strikes violate constitutional limits on presidential war powers because Congress has not authorized the use of military force against drug-trafficking organizations.
