Exquisite Maritime Surveillance (From Fox News)

From the USS Gerald R. Ford to the P-8 Navy radar plane and more, the U.S. joint force presence in the Caribbean delivers exquisite maritime surveillance of the drug boat traffic.  Lexington Vice President Rebecca Grant discussed the enhanced military operations in U.S. Southern Command and the possibility of Tomahawks for Ukraine in this interview on The FOX Report with Jon Scott. 

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage en route to poison Americans,” Trump posted on Truth Social after the September 19 strike.  “They come on boats, through the Caribbean, with the full assistance and cooperation of the illegitimate government of Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on October 23.  The U.S. has carried out 15 strikes on designated cartels, including Tren de Aragua.  Highlights below, and full FOX News clip here. 

Jon Scott: There are a number of critics who say we don’t know who’s driving those boats that the U.S. is blowing out of the water. How do you see it?

Rebecca Grant: Oh, heck no, those critics are wrong, Jon. We have exquisite maritime surveillance.  Now, the Pentagon doesn’t want to talk about this because it’s an active intelligence operation.  But we have, you know, the P-8 surveillance plane; that’s a Boeing 737 with an enormous radar on it, and that is just one asset.  So, our military can see the crew coming up to the dock; they can probably see the color of the paint on the boat, and they are incredibly careful about selecting these legitimate narco-terrorist targets and hitting them in international waters. There is no accident here. Trump and Rubio are very clear on this policy, and they’re executing it quite cleanly, and I think they’re going to keep at it.

Jon Scott: I want to put up a graphic that shows the military assets that have been moved into the Caribbean. More than a dozen U.S. ships, including an aircraft carrier, which obviously has tremendous capabilities.  All of this seems to have Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro extremely upset.  According to the Washington Post, President Maduro is reaching out to Russia, China, and Iran to enhance its–Venezuela’s–military capabilities and solicit assistance, requesting defensive radars, aircraft repairs, and potentially missiles. It’s unclear from the documents how Russia, China, and Iran responded.  If those three nations were to give him some help, how worried should the U.S. be?

Rebecca Grant: Not very worried.  So, Venezuela and Russia have been buddies for a long time. I think they have some Russian air defense systems, some old ones.  But with the presence of the USS Gerald R. Ford, that greatly expands both the land and sea strike options. It also expands the surveillance, the command and control, and that means that Trump can continue to carry out the policy of targeting the narco-terrorists.  Don’t forget, Secretary Rubio put a $50 million bounty on Maduro’s head.  Maduro’s been indicted by the Southern District of New York years ago, and there is a clear connection, says the Treasury Department, between Venezuela and the drug gangs.  That’s the reason for this massive naval presence in the Caribbean.

Jon Scott: Let’s turn our attention to the situation in Ukraine.  They have asked for U.S. Tomahawk missiles to be deployed, to be, you know, to be essentially given to them or purchased by them. Jack Keane says it wouldn’t take all that long for the Ukrainians to learn how to use them.  Listen.

General Jack Keane: We have very condensed programs for the Ukrainians; probably something like the Tomahawk would be 6 weeks…The President obviously has some information that I think is not being realistic, in terms of what we have done in the past with the Ukrainians.

Jon Scott: He was referring to the President saying that it could take a year for the Ukrainians to learn how to use the Tomahawks if they were to get them.  If they have that shortened learning curve, what would that do in this conflict?

Rebecca Grant: General Keane is right.  Remember, these Tomahawks are designed to put the squeeze on Putin, to convince them to agree to a ceasefire. The Tomahawks can hit Russian energy pipelines and about 60 Russian air bases.  I’m going to tell you this as well.  The Army can deploy Tomahawks; they can get them into Ukraine, if this is the decision, via Europe, in about 24 to 48 hours.  Yes, the Ukrainians have proven that they are experts in using long-range deep strike weapons, with their drone strikes, and of course, their air defenses, Patriot, FrankenSam, and many other systems.  They could quickly be used.  The idea is to pressure Putin to agree to what Zelensky has already agreed to: a ceasefire.