WASHINGTON — In the wake of this month’s stunning Venezuela operation, the Trump administration’s nominee to take the operational reins inside US Southern Command appeared in front of senators today, very careful to say nothing.
“It’s okay for you two gentlemen, to tell us how you feel,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., interjected at one point. “We realize that you haven’t been confirmed yet, but so far, we really haven’t received any answers about how you feel about the responsibilities you’re about to take on. It’s okay to tell us, and actually would be helpful.”
His words were directed at both Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Francis Donovan — currently serving as the vice commander of the United States Special Operations Command and tapped to take over SOUTHCOM — and Army Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd who is currently serving as the deputy commander for Indo-Pacific Command and nominated to be the next National Security Agency director and commander of Cyber Command. The comments come out at time of tension between the Pentagon and Congress, and internally inside the Department of Defense.
Both men, which hail from different communities than they are slated to move into, are also nominated to take over posts previously held by leaders that were either fired last year or resigned early. In the case of SOUTHCOM, Adm. Alvin Holsey in October announced plans to step down just as the US military began striking more small boats in the Caribbean Sea. CYBERCOM and the NSA have been without a Senate-confirmed leader since April 2025 when the Trump administration fired Gen. Timothy Haugh.
Both three-star generals spent the better part of two-plus hours hesitant to publicly disclose how they would approach their new roles if sworn in (i.e., additional assets required to support military operations in the Western Hemisphere and developing an offensive cyber declaratory deterrent policy) but they did offer up a few insights.
When it comes to SOUTHCOM, Donovan said he would want to build and expand military-to-military relationships in the region in order to “increase regional security,” while examining decrements to soft power levers like foreign aid.
“I am concerned about any drops in any of the tools that would be available to combatant commanders to address a range of issues,” he added.
How technology, strategy and industry are shaping the next fleet
Discover how unmanned systems and emerging technologies are shaping the future of U.S. naval power in Breaking Defense’s new eBook.
And while Donovan did not provide the committee with answers on continued operations in the Caribbean targeting small vessels, plans for Venezuela and more, he said that based on recent operations and the pivot towards the Western hemisphere in the National Security Strategy, it is clear SOUTHCOM will need additional resources.
“The first step is to do analysis of the capability of the SOUTHCOM headquarters and really build on the strength,” he said.
“The concern now is, as we have additional physical assets in places, is the headquarters staffed, structured to maintain sustained logistics and supply and all the basics underpinnings of military capability? … Are we a headquarters capable of bringing those capabilities together? And I believe we’re going to get there,” Donovan added.
For his part, Rudd acknowledged that he does not hail from a technical background and would rely on his team for the technical breadth, while trying to make the CYBERCOM more operationalized.
“Where I sit right now, I bring a deep, mission driven understanding of the challenges … integrating the capabilities across the joint force in all domains,” Rudd told senators.
“That understanding, that perspective from the joint warfighter, principally in INDOPACOM in the recent history, but throughout my career in a number of other theaters … [and] there’s an increasing relationship in what we call the soft space cyber triad, those interdependence between those commands, those capabilities, to deliver what our nation needs,” he later added.
One topic he did throw his support behind today was the dual-hatting of the NSA director post and head of CYBERCOM, calling it an avenue for “effectiveness as well as efficiency” to “harness and integrate the incredible capabilities of both those organizations.”