America is under attack by drug cartels, according to Secretary of the Navy John Phelan, and the U.S. military's Operation Southern Spear aims to defend the country from the flood of narcotics.
"Drugs kill more Americans than we've ever lost in wars. So I think at the end of the day, the president has correctly identified this as an attack on the country, which it is," Phelan said on "My View with Lara Trump" Saturday night.
Phelan described the firepower behind Operation Southern Spear, which includes the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, "which has nine carrier air wings, so over 70 aircraft... And then there are 11 ships there as well. And there's also the Marines."
The effort is also supported by the Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security. It coincides with a push to modernize America's military through technology such as artificial intelligence, hypersonics and unmanned systems, along with a renewed shipbuilding drive led by President Donald Trump.
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"The president is very focused on shipbuilding. He has been on me about it for a long time, and continues to stay after me, which is great, because he's committed to it and it's really important," Phelan said. "We hollowed out our manufacturing base in this country. And it's really important that we learn how to make things."
The Navy secretary continued, "We spent the last 10 years teaching people how to code. We're gonna spend the next 10 years teaching how to use their hands, because those are going to be the important skills."
"And I'm hoping we're gonna open up some new yards in addition to expanding existing yards. We think we're gonna need, you know, north of 50,000 new workers in the shipbuilding industry to get going."
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When asked what he made of critics who argued that the deployment was overkill or a misappropriation of naval resources, Phelan pointed to the collaborative nature of the initiative and to the military's central purpose.
"The military's job is to defend the homeland... that's exactly what we're doing, and we're using our best assets to defend the homeland," he said.
China's presence in the region is another reason to project American power, Phelan said, acknowledging heavy Chinese naval investment.
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"In fact, they have more ships than our U.S. Navy. And a lot of people talk about that, but I'm not sure that's the appropriate metric [of naval power]. We kind of look at tonnage and capability, so it's a little bit different," Phelan said.
"But I think China desires to be the world power. And they are a peer competitor with us. And I think having planes like this that we're surrounded by, carriers like the Ford and our destroyers, our Arleigh Burke destroyers, those are ways of projecting American power and keeping America safe."
Phelan's vision for the U.S. Navy is "to have zero caskets with an American flag on it. That really is what our goal should be. And basically that means we don't get in a fight. So if we have deterrence, and we have the right equipment, we'll do that."
"I think what the American people should know is their Navy and Marine Corps is ready," he said. "It is the best fighting force in the world. We have the best equipment in the world. We need to continue to invest in it to upkeep it and make it better."
