Overview
- The Defense Department’s inspector general, in a May 11 letter, launched an evaluation of Operation Southern Spear to determine if U.S. Southern Command followed the six-step Joint Targeting Cycle, with work set at the Pentagon and at SOUTHCOM headquarters in Florida.
- The Joint Targeting Cycle is a step-by-step method that moves from a commander’s goals to target development, intelligence analysis, a strike decision, mission execution, and a post-strike assessment.
- Since September 2025, the military has targeted nearly 60 small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, destroyed most of them, and reported about 193 deaths, with the latest publicized strike on May 8.
- The inspector general says the project is self-initiated and, according to the Associated Press, will not rule on whether the strikes were legal.
- The White House calls the campaign a lawful armed conflict based on a classified Justice Department opinion, while lawmakers, rights groups, and some military lawyers question the evidence and cite a reported follow-up strike that killed survivors.