Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has lost yet another military commander amid a mass exodus from his department.
Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey will leave his job in December, two years before his three-year contract is set to expire.
‘Serving as your commander and deputy for the past 34 months has been a tremendous honor,’ Holsey said in a statement announcing his decision.
Holsey also served as deputy commander from 2023 to 2024.
His departure is a bitter blow for Hegseth, who has faced mounting pressure after a wave of departures and leaks from his department.
Holsey has been overseeing a crackdown on narcoterrorists in the Caribbean, but sources claim tensions had been rising between him and Hegseth over the operation.
The revelation that Holsey will step down comes after the US military carried out a new strike on Thursday against a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean.
Three members of the crew appear to have survived.
The US military launched search and rescue assets but did not locate the survivors, according to Fox News.
Prior to Thursday’s operation, US military strikes against suspected drug boats off Venezuela killed at least 27 people, raising alarms among some legal experts and Democratic lawmakers, who question whether they adhere to the laws of war.
The Trump administration argues America is already engaged in a war with narcoterrorist groups from Venezuela, making the strikes legitimate.
But sources told The New York Times that Holsey had expressed concerns about the escalating attacks on alleged drug boats.
One source said Holsey had questioned whether he would be fired as Hegseth sought to clear out the Pentagon.
He reportedly fired former head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse back in August, as well as Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore, who was chief of the Navy Reserve and Rear Admiral Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversees Naval Special Warfare Command.
Earlier this month, Hegseth fired Navy chief of staff Jon Harrison, one of his top aides who had been helping him with his unprecedented reorganization of the Pentagon’s bureaucracy.
Arguably the most high-profile dismissal was General Charles Q Brown Jr, who had been serving as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from May 2023 to February 2025.
The administration also stripped security clearances from additional current and former national security officials.
The top Democrat on the Senate armed services committee, Senator Jack Reed, called Admiral Alvin Holsey’s unexpected resignation troubling given mounting fears of a potential US confrontation with Venezuela.
‘Admiral Holsey’s resignation only deepens my concern that this administration is ignoring the hard-earned lessons of previous US military campaigns and the advice of our most experienced warfighters,’ Reed said.
Holsey became the leader of US Southern Command only in November, overseeing an area that encompasses the Caribbean Sea and waters off South America.
These types of postings typically last between three and four years.
He said he was ‘honored to serve our nation’ over 37 years in a moving social media statement paid tribute to his team.
‘The SOUTHCOM team has made lasting contributions to the defense of our nation and will continue to do so,’ he wrote.
‘I am confident that you will forge ahead, focused on your mission that strengthens our nation and ensures its longevity as a beacon of freedom around the globe,’ he wrote.
The department has been targeting vessels suspected of carrying drugs into the United States.
Videos presented by the Trump administration of previous attacks showed vessels being completely destroyed, and there have been no prior accounts of survivors.
The strikes come against the backdrop of a US military buildup in the Caribbean that includes guided missile destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine and around 6,500 troops as President Donald Trump escalates a standoff with the Venezuelan government.
Special operations helicopters, B-52s and C-17s are among the American aircraft in the region, The Washington Post reported.
On Wednesday, Trump disclosed he had authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, adding to speculation in Caracas that the United States is attempting to topple Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
In a letter to the United Nations’ 15-member Security Council Venezuela’s UN Ambassador Samuel Moncada asked for a UN determination that the US strikes off its coast are illegal and that the body issues a statement backing Venezuela’s sovereignty.
Less than a week ago, the Pentagon announced its counter-narcotics operations in the region would not be led by the Miami-based Southern Command, which oversees US military activities in Latin America.
Instead, the Pentagon said a taskforce was being created that would be led by II Marine Expeditionary Force, a unit capable of rapid overseas operations that is based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
That decision came as a surprise to US military-watchers, since a combatant command like Southern Command would normally lead any high-profile operations.
