The Venezuela Operation Is a Remarkable Display of the US Military’s Strength and Innovation
A demonstrator uses a megaphone during a protest against US military action in Venezuela, at Lafayette Square in front of the White House, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US military has struck Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, in Washington, D.C., US, January 3, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
Since the days of Thomas Jefferson’s war against the Barbary pirates, the US military has protected our people and our way of life, regardless of the situation presented to them by the political establishment.
In Venezuela, more than 150 aircraft, including fighter aircraft, bombers, surveillance aircraft, intelligence aircraft, and helicopters, flew from 20 different bases. The mission included the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Space Force, as well as the CIA, NGA, and NSA. “We watched, we prepared, we remained patient and professional,” US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine, told the assembled press at President Donald Trump’s news conference on Saturday.
US intelligence knew Maduro’s pattern of life – where he moved, lived, traveled, ate, and worked. The military made plans accordingly. Caine said the mission was “meticulously planned” and was “the culmination of months of planning and rehearsals.”
Quietly, discreetly, our military planned for the day it would be ordered to act. The military displayed the same prowess when it launched operation’s against Iran’s nuclear program last year, and in many other bold strikes overseas.
In response to a clear military success, however, a significant segment of Congress is jumping up and down, decrying the secrecy of the administration in extracting from his fortress a criminal dictator under indictment in the US, and complaining about violation of Federal law. But many of these same people were silent when the Obama administration ordered more than 542 drone strikes killing 3,797 people, including an American aid worker and his Italian colleague, and a 16-year-old American citizen who was in the car with his father, the target. SEAL Team 6 was used in Grenada, Panama, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and, of course, in Pakistan, where President Obama ordered the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
Presidents Clinton, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush all took similar actions.
In his remarks Saturday, Gen. Caine said, “We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again, not to get it right, but to ensure that we cannot get it wrong. Our jobs are to integrate combat power so when the order comes, we can deliver overwhelming force at the time and the place of our choosing against any foe anywhere in the world.”
This calls to mind the response by President Obama’s then-Press Secretary Jay Carney in response to a question about the use of drones without informing Congress or the government of the country in which the drones were operating. The Washington Post reported, “Carney suggested that nothing Obama had said could be a security violation: ‘He’s the commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States. He’s the president of the United States.’”
Military operations to secure our country do not require a “declaration of war” by Congress. They do, however, require a ready, precise, and well-led military to achieve their goals. The United States has such a force. It is a blessing.
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of the Jewish Policy Center and Editor of inFOCUS Quarterly magazine.