Operation Southern Spear — the name given to the U.S. military mission to stop the flow of illegal drugs in the Caribbean Sea with the lethal targeting of mariners accused of smuggling — has cost more than $600 million from the time the mission started through the first quarter of 2026.During that time, the mission has cost taxpayers roughly $647 million, according to a new report from the Department of War Office of the Inspector General, which was released on Thursday. The cutoff for the cost analysis was March 31, and U.S. Southern Command has conducted at least 10 kinetic strikes since then, presumably bringing the total cost even higher than the $647 million figure.Stopping maritime smuggling has historically been a job led by the Coast Guard, which would interdict the vessels, board if needed, and detain those on board if warranted, but the Trump administration decided last year that it needed to conduct lethal interdictions to establish deterrence against the cartels allegedly involved.
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 it could not answer that question in a “publicly releasable” way, according to the report. But the subject of how they determine targets is the subject of a new, separate DoW IG “evaluation” announced earlier this week.
