The commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), whose area of operations includes the Caribbean waters where the strikes against the alleged drug boats have been conducted, announced he is retiring suddenly by the end of the year. 

Navy Adm. Alvin Holsey, who became the commander of SOUTHCOM in November 2024, announced Thursday that he would retire from the Navy in December. No reason for his abrupt exit was provided, and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

‘The SOUTHCOM team has made lasting contributions to the defense of our nation, and will continue to do so,’ Holsey said in a statement SOUTHCOM shared on social media. ‘I am confident that you will forge ahead, focused on your mission that strengthens our nation and ensures its longevity as a beacon of freedom around the globe.’ 

Holsey commissioned in 1988, and flew both SH-2F Seasprite and SH-60B Seahawk helicopters. Holsey’s previous assignments include serving as the deputy commander of SOUTHCOM, as well as deputy Chief of Naval Personnel and the commander of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson’s carrier strike group.

The New York Times first reported that Holsey was departing his post. 

Holsey’s retirement less than a year into his tenure leading the combatant command is unusual. Former SOUTHCOM commander, Army Gen. Laura Richardson, served in the role from 2021 to 2024. 

Holsey’s retirement comes as tensions heat up in his area of operations, and just a few days after the U.S. military conducted a strike against alleged narco-traffickers in the Caribbean and after the Department of War unveiled a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force in SOUTHCOM’s area of responsibility.

The Trump administration has adopted an aggressive approach to address the flow of drugs into the U.S., and designated drug cartel groups like Tren de Aragua, Sinaloa and others as foreign terrorist organizations in February.

Likewise, the White House sent lawmakers a memo Sept. 30 notifying them that the U.S. is now participating in a ‘non-international armed conflict’ with drug smugglers, and has conducted at least five fatal strikes on alleged drug boats off the coast of Venezuela. 

Even so, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed doubts about the legality of the strikes, and Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., filed a war powers resolution in September to prohibit U.S. forces from engaging in ‘hostilities’ against certain non-state organizations.

Although the resolution failed in the Senate by a 51–48 margin Oct. 8, Republicans Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with their Democratic counterparts for the resolution.

Meanwhile, Trump has signaled he is eyeing land operations now ‘because we’ve got the sea very well under control,’ and confirmed that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, after the New York Times reported Wednesday he had approved the order. 

Trump said he did so because Venezuela has released prisoners into the U.S., and that drugs were pouring into the U.S. from Venezuela through the sea routes. 

However, Trump declined to answer though when asked if the CIA had the authority to ‘take out’ Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The Trump administration has said it does not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state, but a leader of a drug cartel.

Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth commended Holsey for his service, and wished Holsey and his family continued success. 

‘Throughout his career—from commanding helicopter squadrons to leading Carrier Strike Group One and standing up the International Maritime Security Construct—Admiral Holsey has demonstrated unwavering commitment to mission, people, and nation,’ Hegseth said in a post on social media on Thursday. ‘His tenure as Military Deputy Commander and now Commander of United States Southern Command reflects a legacy of operational excellence and strategic vision.’ 

The U.S. is planning to offer rewards to Gazans who help locate the bodies of the deceased hostages who were held by Hamas, a pair of senior White House advisors told reporters Wednesday evening.

‘We’re probably going to put together some sort of program where we’re going to ask people to see if they can help us to locate bodies. And we’re going to pay rewards for that type of good behavior,’ one advisor said.

As part of the ceasefire agreement, all 20 living hostages have been returned to Israel, along with nine bodies of the deceased. Nineteen more bodies have yet to be located.

Hamas claims it does not know the location of the other bodies, and ‘significant efforts and special equipment’ would be needed to locate them.

An advisor tamped down accusations that Hamas had violated the ceasefire agreements, insisting the terms of the agreement prioritized living hostages, and they expected bodies to be difficult to locate in a war zone.

Still, they added, ‘I can tell you that we’re not going to leave here until everybody comes home.’

‘We’ve heard a lot of people saying, ‘Well, you know, Hamas violated the deal, because not all the bodies have been returned.’ I think the understanding we had with them was we’d get all the live hostages, out, which they did honor that.’

Israeli intelligence and Turkish retrieval experts, trained for Turkey’s frequent earthquakes, will aid the effort to locate the 19 remaining bodies.

‘You have to understand the complexity of the conditions on the ground,’ an advisor said. ‘The entire Gaza Strip has been pulverized. It looks like something out of a movie. And there’s very, very little buildings left standing.’

The advisor equated the debris levels to those seen after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. ‘This is, I don’t know, it feels like multiple times more.’

Amid the debris are unexploded ordnance, further complicating body retrieval.

An advisor also detailed plans for ‘safe zones’ behind the Yellow Line — the area still occupied by the Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza — for Palestinians looking to flee Hamas as the militant group conducts executions across the strip.

‘Israel is very committed to creating safety for the people of Gaza who want to live in peace. And so this is a new line of effort that we requested. And that it was met with a lot of enthusiasm from Israel to try to set this up.’

Violent clashes between Hamas and rival groups have been reported in areas across Gaza, and videos circulating across social media appear to show executions.

An advisor told reporters it had told Hamas to stop the killings.

‘There have been a lot of reports in Gaza of Hamas killing and going after Palestinian civilians. That’s something that we’ve been working with the mediators to send a message to say we’d really like to see that stop.’

‘We are seeing different actions on all sides that, obviously, that President Trump and his team are working very hard to minimize.’

An Israeli military official told Fox News Digital the killings are ‘Hamas’ deliberate attempt to show the killing publicly and reestablish its rule by terrorizing civilians.’

Trump earlier this week suggested Hamas was conducting police activities and those who were killed were gang members.

‘[Hamas] do want to stop the problems and they’ve been open about it, and we gave them approval for a period of time,’ he told reporters on Monday.

‘You have close to 2 million people going back to buildings that have been demolished, and a lot of bad things can happen. So we want it to be — we want it to be safe.’

The president added on Tuesday: ‘They did take out a couple of gangs that were very bad gangs, very, very bad.’

‘And that didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you,’ he added.

On Monday, Hamas returned all living hostages, showing a positive sign for the historic but tenuous ceasefire agreement with Israel. The IDF, in turn, pulled back in Gaza to behind what’s known as a ‘Yellow line,’ part of Phase One of the agreement.

Fox News’ Efrat Lachter contributed to this report. 

Former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton was indicted Thursday on 18 counts related to the improper handling of classified materials, Fox News Digital has learned.

According to the indictment, Bolton was indicted on eight counts of transmission of National Defense Information and ten counts of retention of National Defense information.

‘From on or about April 9, 2018, through at least on or about August 22, 2025, BOLTON abused his position as National Security Advisor by sharing more than a thousand pages of information about his day-to-day activities as the National Security Advisor—including information relating to the national defense which was classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level—with two unauthorized individuals, namely Individuals 1 and 2,’ the indictment reads. ‘BOLTON also unlawfully retained documents, writings, and notes relating to the national defense, including information classified up to the TOP SECRET/SCI level, in his home in Montgomery County, Maryland.’

The documents Bolton transmitted were sent to two individuals unauthorized to view classified documents.

Those documents, according to the indictment, revealed intelligence about future attacks by an adversarial group in another country; a liaison partner sharing sensitive information with the U.S. intelligence community; intelligence that a foreign adversary was planning a missile launch in the future; a covert action in a foreign country that was related to sensitive intergovernmental actions; sensitive sources and methods used to collect human intelligence; intelligence about an adversary’s knowledge of planned U.S. actions; intelligence about adversary’s plans for attack conducted against U.S. Forces in another country; human intelligence using sensitive sources and methods; a covert action program; intelligence collected on the leader of an adversary nation’s military group; intelligence on an adversary’s leaders; intelligence concerning a foreign country’s interactions with an adversary; a direct statement collected via intelligence sources and methods on a foreign country; a foreign country’s intelligence describing an adversary’s planned attack on a facility; sensitive sources and methods used to collect intelligence on a foreign country; a covert action and sources and methods used; intelligence on covert action planned by the U.S. Government; intelligence confirming a foreign adversary was responsible for an attack; and intelligence on covert action conducted by the U.S. Government, a liaison partner country, and specific information about the action.

The documents were all classified as ‘TOP SECRET.’

As for the documents he allegedly retained, one document revealed intelligence about a future attack by an adversarial group in another country; another revealed liaison partners sharing sensitive information with the U.S. intelligence community; another revealed intelligence that a foreign adversary was planning a missile launch in the future; a covert action in a foreign country related to sensitive inter-governmental actions and sensitive sources and methods used to collect human intelligence.

Other documents revealed intelligence about an adversary’s knowledge of planned U.S. actions; intelligence about adversary’s plans for attack conducted against U.S. Forces in another country; human intelligence using sensitive sources and methods; and intelligence collected on the leader of an adversary nation’s military group.

Others revealed intelligence concerning a foreign country’s interactions with an adversary; a foreign country’s intelligence describing an adversary’s planned attack on a facility; intelligence confirming a foreign adversary was responsible for an attack; intelligence that a foreign country was considering specific force against another country; and more.

The documents range in classification from ‘SECRET’ to ‘TOP SECRET.’

‘The FBI’s investigation revealed that John Bolton allegedly transmitted top secret information using personal online accounts and retained said documents in his house in direct violation of federal law,’ said FBI Director Kash Patel. ‘The case was based on meticulous work from dedicated career professionals at the FBI who followed the facts without fear or favor. Weaponization of justice will not be tolerated, and this FBI will stop at nothing to bring to justice anyone who threatens our national security.’

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, ‘There is one tier of justice for all Americans. 

‘Anyone who abuses a position of power and jeopardizes our national security will be held accountable,’ she said. ‘No one is above the law.’

Bolton’s Maryland home had been raided by FBI agents in August. That search was focused on classified documents agents believed Bolton possessed. 

The list of more than a dozen items seized from the Bethesda, Maryland, home of President Donald Trump’s former national security advisor was included in search warrant documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Among the technology seized from Bolton’s home were two iPhones — a red one with two camera lenses and a black one in a black case — and three computers, including a silver Dell XPS laptop with cables; a Dell Precision Tower computer model 3620; and a Dell Inspiron 2330 computer, according to the search warrant documents. 

One Seagate hard drive and two Sandisk 64 gigabyte USB drives were also seized.

The list shows the FBI also took a white binder labeled, ‘Statements and Reflections to Allied Strikes…’ and typed documents in folders labeled ‘Trump I-IV.’

Four boxes containing what federal officials called ‘printed daily activities’ also were hauled from Bolton’s home, according to the documents. 

The Aug. 22 FBI raid was linked to a probe of mishandling classified documents.

Bolton served as Trump’s White House national security advisor during his first administration, from 2018 to 2019.

A source familiar with the early stages of the investigation told Fox News Digital that CIA Director John Ratcliffe provided Patel with limited access to U.S. intelligence that served as the basis for the search warrant. The source told Fox News Digital that the evidence justified the raid on Bolton’s home.

‘I can’t give you any more details than that, but let’s just say that John Bolton really had some nerve to attack Trump over his handling of classified information,’ the source told Fox News Digital after the August raid.

The probe into Bolton’s alleged retention of classified documents was first launched years ago but later shut down by the Biden administration ‘for political reasons,’ according to a senior U.S. official.

The Justice Department under Trump’s first administration argued that Bolton’s 2020 memoir, ‘The Room Where It Happened,’ contained classified material and sought to block its publication. A federal judge ultimately allowed the book to be published.

Justice Department lawyers argued the book contained classified national security information covering areas like U.S. intelligence sources and methods, foreign policy deliberations and conversations with foreign leaders.

In June 2021, the Biden Justice Department abandoned both a criminal inquiry and civil lawsuit against Bolton over the memoir, ending the legal battle at that time.

Bolton’s attorney said at the time that a senior career official in charge of the National Security Council’s pre-publication review process conducted a four-month review of the book and, after requiring a number of revisions, concluded that it contained no classified information.

The book contained a damning account of the Trump White House, alleging that Trump once ‘pleaded’ with Chinese President Xi Jinping to aid his re-election campaign, among other missteps.

Trump ousted Bolton from his first administration in 2019 because the pair ‘disagreed strongly’ on policy. 

Bolton has both praised and criticized Trump since leaving his first administration. 

He criticized Trump’s handling of classified documents, which led to an FBI raid on the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 and a subsequent federal indictment, but insisted that ‘the legal process play out.’

Trump initially was indicted on 37 felony counts, later expanded to 40, but the case was ultimately dismissed in July 2024.

In 2022, Bolton said Trump lacked the competence and character to be president.

However, Bolton strongly backed Trump’s military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, calling it ‘a decisive action,’ ‘the right thing to do,’ and praising its potential to generate ‘huge change in the Middle East.’

Trump, meanwhile, often has criticized Bolton for pushing U.S. involvement in wars in the Middle East. Bolton served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush from August 2005 to December 2006.

Trump revoked Bolton’s Secret Service detail Jan. 21, the day after Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president, and Bolton said the move showed that Trump was coming after him.

‘I think it is a retribution presidency,’ Bolton told ABC earlier in 2025, responding to Trump’s move to revoke his security clearance.

Bolton has faced threats from Iran going back years, including an alleged plot to assassinate him in 2021 and the Department of Justice subsequently charging a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for the plot in 2022.

The Iranian threats against Bolton were likely sparked by the January 2020 U.S. strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force, the Department of Justice reported in 2022. 

Bolton did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Ashley Oliver and Kiera McDonald contributed to this report.