Navy secretary says drug cartels attacking America with deadly narcotics

America is under attack from drug cartels, and the US military’s Operation Southern Spear aims to protect the country from a flood of narcotics, according to Secretary of the Navy John Phelan.

“Drugs kill more Americans than we lose in wars. So at the end of the day, I think the President correctly described this as an attack on the country, which it is,” Phelan said on “My Perspective on Lara Trump” Saturday night.

Phelan described the firepower behind Operation Southern Lance, which included the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group.“It has nine carrier air wings, that is, over 70 aircraft… Moreover, there are 11 ships there. And then there are the Marines.“

This effort is also supported by the Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security. This dovetails with a renewed shipbuilding drive led by President Donald Trump, as well as an effort to modernize America’s military through technologies such as artificial intelligence, hypersonics and unmanned systems.

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“The president is very focused on shipbuilding. He’s been interested in me for a long time and continues to pursue me, which is great because he’s committed to it and that’s really important,” Phelan said. “We’ve undermined our manufacturing base in this country. And it’s really important that we learn how to do things.”

“We’ve spent the last 10 years teaching people how to code. We’re going to spend the next 10 years teaching people how to use their hands, because those are going to be important skills,” the Navy secretary continued.

“And I expect we will open some new shipyards as well as expand existing ones. We think we’ll need north of 50,000 new workers in the shipbuilding industry to start.”

Secretary of the Navy John Phelan speaks to sailors aboard the USS Somerset on Aug. 26, 2025, in National City, California. (Meg McLaughlin/San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)

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Asked what he thought of critics who argued the deployment was redundant or a misuse of naval resources, Phelan noted the collaborative nature of the initiative and the military’s core purpose.

“The army’s mission is to defend the homeland… that’s exactly what we do and use our best assets to defend the homeland,” he said.

Acknowledging China’s heavy naval investments, Phelan said China’s presence in the region is another reason to project American power.

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“They actually have more ships than our US Navy. A lot of people talk about this but I’m not sure it’s the appropriate measurement [of naval power]. We look at tonnage and capacity, so it’s a little bit different,” Phelan said.

A U.S. military drone strike ordered by President Trump destroyed a ship in the Eastern Pacific on October 22, 2025, killing three suspected narco-terrorists, according to the War Department. (Ministry of War)

“But I think China aspires to be a world power. And they are a peer competitor to us. And I think having aircraft like this surrounding us, carriers like Ford and our destroyers, our Arleigh Burke destroyers, those are ways to project American power and keep America safe.”

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Phelan’s vision for the U.S. Navy is “to have zero caskets with an American flag on them. That should really be our goal. Essentially, it means we’re not going to get into a fight. So if we have the deterrent and we have the right equipment, we’re going to do it.”

“I think what the American people need to know is that the Navy and Marine Corps are ready,” he said. “The best fighting force in the world. We have the best equipment in the world. We need to keep investing in it to maintain it and make it better.”