Lawmakers and military experts alike are stunned over the departure of Admiral Alvin Holsey, thanks to Pete Hegseth.
According to a report, Hegseth forced out the US Navy admiral who had legal concerns over Donald Trump’s drug boat strikes. Holsey was the head of US Southern Command and his departure has stunned military experts and lawmakers alike.
According to a report, Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth asked Admiral Alvin Holsey to step down. This was seemingly because he had expressed concern of the “murky” legality of the lethal strikes on the alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.
Hegseth announced on Oct. 16 that Admiral Holsey’s shock departure comes one year into his tenure as Head of US Southern Command, the unit that oversees military operation in the Caribbean. The departure followed “months of discord” between Holsey and Hegseth that intensified in the summer. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing two Pentagon officials and former officials, this was when the Trump administration started bombing the alleged drug boats, killing dozens of people.
During a meeting between the Secretary of Defense and Admiral Holsey, 60, this year, Hegseth reportedly told him, “You’re either on the team or you’re not,” adding, “When you get an order, you move out fast and don’t ask questions.”
According to lawmakers and military experts, asking the four-star military chief to step down during an escalating military operation was “an extraordinary move.”
This revelation comes at a time when Pete Hegseth has been accused of “war crimes” for the deadly Caribbean strikes, which have so far killed more than 80 people, and as tensions with Venezuela intensify.
Meanwhile, the alleged friction between Hegseth and Holsey was previously reported. However, at the time, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell dismissed it as “fake news.”
We told the Washington Post that this entire narrative was false yesterday.
These people just fabricate anonymously sourced stories out of whole cloth.
Fake News is the enemy of the people. https://t.co/CgpNBfb2gf
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellUSA) November 29, 2025
“This is a total lie. Never happened. There was no hesitation or concerns about this mission,” Parnell posted on X.
Holsey expressed concern over the legality of the Caribbean operation. He objected that parts of that mission “fell outside of his direct control,” because other military units involved in the attack fell under separate chains of command.
Meanwhile, Hegseth has been doing some damage control after a classified report, made by the Inspector General earlier this year, found the defense secretary had risked endangering US troops in Yemen by sharing highly sensitive information on military operations on a Signal group chat.
The chat included some senior figures in President Donald Trump’s national security, and, mistakenly, a journalist who should never have been able to see it. The report read, “The Secretary’s actions created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed US mission objectives and potential harm to US pilots.”
Moreover, Representative Adam Smith of the House Armed Services Committee, also did not hold back. “This report is a damning review of an incompetent secretary of defense who is profoundly incapable of the job and clearly has no respect for or comprehension of what is required to safeguard our service members,” Smith said.
