Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Francis Donovan [Screenshot from the U.S. Special Operations Command website]

Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Francis L. Donovan, who has extensive experience in special operations and the Middle East, has been nominated as the next commander of the U.S. Southern Command, a position currently vacant.

President Donald Trump sent the nomination to Congress on December 18 (local time).

If confirmed by the Senate, Lt. Gen. Donovan, currently the Deputy Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, will be promoted to general and assume command of Southern Command.

U.S. Southern Command is a unified combatant command responsible for operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Venezuela, and the Panama Canal area.

Lt. Gen. Donovan has held various roles in the Marine Corps, including infantry, reconnaissance, and special operations, and has served with all three Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEF).

According to The New York Times (NYT), while serving as commander of a Marine Expeditionary Unit under the 5th Fleet, he discovered that Houthi rebels in Yemen were using modified mobile commercial radar systems during operations in the southern Red Sea. He then instructed his subordinates to create similar systems, which were deployed to U.S. Marine Corps units worldwide within months.

Retiring U.S. Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey. Yonhap News

The former commander of Southern Command, U.S. Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey, retired on December 12.

While the official reason for his sudden retirement, with two years remaining on his term, is not clear, it is speculated that friction with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was the cause.

The NYT, citing anonymous defense officials, reported that Adm. Holsey had expressed concerns about the Trump administration's operations targeting suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, which began on September 2.

When Adm. Holsey's retirement decision became known earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Secretary Hegseth had effectively expressed a vote of no confidence in Adm. Holsey after the latter raised concerns about the legality and legitimacy of operations to sink drug-smuggling vessels.

Adm. Holsey declined interview requests from the media regarding the reasons for his retirement.

On December 18, the same day Lt. Gen. Donovan was nominated as the candidate for Southern Command, the Pentagon announced that U.S. forces had attacked and killed five individuals suspected of transporting drugs by vessel.

As a result, the number of individuals killed in operations targeting suspected drug-smuggling vessels, which began on September 2, has now reached at least 104.