The Pentagon announced the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy's newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, is headed toward South America as news emerges about a 10th U.S. strike against alleged drug-carrying vessels in the area.

Washington

The U.S. Pentagon has announced the deployment of the world's largest aircraft carrier, along with a carrier strike group, to the Caribbean region. This action is part of an intensified campaign against what the White House refers to as narco-terrorism. The deployment includes several destroyers, a guided missile cruiser, amphibious ships with Marines, and other naval assets already present in the area.

This marks a significant escalation in U.S. military presence for drug interdiction, a move described as unprecedented by defense correspondents. The announcement follows a series of strikes on suspected drug boats, with the latest resulting in six reported deaths. Officials note that such a large-scale deployment for anti-drug operations is highly unusual and signals a major shift in strategy.

Pentagon sending world's largest aircraft carrier to Latin America

Let's go to the Pentagon now. The U.S. is upping its number of service members and ships dedicated to its fight against what the White House is calling narco-terrorism there. You see that blast over the water. This comes on the same day the Defense Department says it carried out another strike on a boat killing six. Watch, it's right there. This brings, by the way, as we look at this unclassified video, that explosion there in the water, and then the aftermath, the total number of strikes on alleged drug boats to 10. So let's talk to CBS News National Security Correspondent Charlie Daggett. Charlie, you said, as did Pete Hegseth, that we could see these once a day. What are the details from the Pentagon on stepping up their presence by today? You know, Reid, this is huge. This is a really, really big announcement that the Pentagon made just a few minutes ago. It came from Chief Spokesman Sean Parnell. It says he's moving the world's largest aircraft carrier, in fact, the world's largest warship, and it's a carrier strike group, so there'll be a number of destroyers that will be headed to that region. It was just announced it's gonna go from the Med to the Caribbean, but just look at the list that I've got here of the destroyers that are already there. You've got one, two, three, four destroyers, a guided missile cruiser, we got the amphibious that you and I spoke about before with the Marines on board, two amphibious transport dock ships. So I'm onto the Navy trying to get an idea of whether or not they're going to bulk that up or whether they're gonna be rotating some of those destroyers out with the idea that Ford goes in there, but we have to frame this. This is, putting a carrier into that neighborhood, that area of responsibility against the state admission, which is drug interdiction, is absolutely unheard of, aside from unprecedented. I can't remember the last time a carrier was in that region for any good reason other than sort of transporting in or out of it. So this is a major step forward. And my good friend, David Martin, who worked before me at this position, he said, there's no flex like a carrier strike group. So that's what we're seeing here. So it's hard to exaggerate what this means, certainly in terms of optics, but we really have to drill down as to what exactly the Pentagon and the Department of Defense or Department of War is planning in the weeks and months ahead. We don't know how long it's going to take that carrier strike group to get there. And as I said, there are eight, nine warships, including a tech submarine, F-35s in that region already, Puerto Rico. So we're talking about a serious military flex. Serious military flex, an epic firepower potential there, Charlie. And that's even an understatement. I'm thinking of Lili Luciano's recent interview with the top guy in Colombia, who says that this is a violation of international law. Also thinking about statements coming out of Venezuela. Do you feel like that flex is to send a direct message to people that Donald Trump calls bad, bad guys? You know, Reid, look, this is war footing. You know, when you send a carrier strike group, they tend to be deployed in areas like CENTCOM, which we discuss all the time, right? That's the area that covers the Middle East. There's always, almost always, a carrier strike group in Indo-PACOM, the Indo-Pacific region, because of China, and it's also a huge area to have responsibility for. So it's not just that you're sending a carrier strike group, but it's what comes with it. And there'll be F-18s on there. There are already F-35s, you know, fighter jets. And as you mentioned, the latest strike, that happened, well, it was announced this morning from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, targeting Tren de Uruguay. Individuals, suspected anyway, six male narco-terrorists were killed, according to the statement. And this is happening once or twice a day now. So again, in my recent memory, I've never heard of a carrier strike group deployed in a drug interdiction mission. Enormous, and we thank you so much for breaking that news right here on CBS News 24-7. Charlie Dagata, as always, good to see you.

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