WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King, questioned U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Alvin Holsey, nominee to be Admiral and Commander of U.S. Southern Command, about the illicit drug trade and the deadly toll it is taking on Maine people and Americans across the country. In the exchange during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), King called the failure to apprehend the illegal drug shipments “inexcusable,” and called on Admiral Holsey to identify what resources are needed for the military to improve their efforts to combat these shipments. According to the Maine Monthly Overdose Report, between January and December 2023 Maine saw 607 confirmed and suspected fatal drug overdoses.

During his line of questioning, King pressed Admiral Holsey on why the U.S. military and intelligence agencies have only been able to interdict roughly a quarter of all drug shipments coming into the United States.

“Admiral Holsey, you're serving in a war zone. Since we've been sitting here this morning, 10 Americans have died as a result of the work in that war zone. I'm talking about overdose deaths over 100,000 in the country, almost one a day in my state of Maine. Americans are dying,” began Senator King. “And here's what's the problem, or a part of the problem: we are only interdicting 25% of the drug shipments by sea that are coming to this country that we know of, that intelligence tells us are coming and where they are, and yet, 75% of them get through, that's inexcusable. There's something crazy about the fact that we're talking about prospective issues with other countries in the region. This is a real live war zone where people are being killed.”

“I just don't understand it. This is, this has been going on for years. I've been asking this question, so I want to understand why we're able to only interdict 25% of the drug shipments that we know about. If it's a lack of ships, let's find them, the Navy, the Coast Guard, and neighboring countries,” continued Senator King. “We’ve got to think creatively about this. I'm tired of coming to this hearing every couple of years, and hearing this same figure of 25% interdiction of what we know of.”

“Will you commit to me to do two things? Number one, to look for the resources and the assets that are necessary to execute this mission, and number two, to look at the organization of the mission. There are lots of U.S. government agencies involved, intelligence, DHS, drug interdiction, Navy, Coast Guard — my sense is nobody's in charge. And I'd like you to come back to this committee with an organizational chart that show that shows that somebody is in charge. I never like to hear the phrase ‘all of government.’ Every time I hear that phrase, what I hear is, ‘nobody's in charge.’ Will you make those two commitments, Admiral?” finished Senator King.

“Senator, I understand your concern, and even one life is precious. I'll share with you that I commit to looking at this very closely. I believe that we have areas that we can improve. I will advocate for adequate resourcing of air and maritime assets to bolster our presence and to be able to affect interdictions. I think we have to do that. We have to continue to work with intelligence as well as well. But again, it's a very challenging problem set. We will continue to support the lead federal agency, the DEA. Again, we have all those resources, depending where they bring them together — ,” responded Admiral Holsey.

“But if you don't have the assets, if you don't have those ships, let us know. That's the business that we're in. Let us know so that we can try to solve this problem. But I want you to think on this as you're flying back today. Bear in mind that one American every five minutes, 24 hours a day is dying as a result of this crisis,” said Senator King.

“Yes, Sir,” replied Admiral Holsey.

Senator King has made combating the opioid crisis one of his highest priorities in Washington. In hearings of the Armed Services Committee, Senator King has repeatedly and forcefully urged top Pentagon officials to improve efforts to stop drug shipments, and to allocate more resources for the crisis. In the Fiscal Year 2022 budget, he secured new federal investment in our nation’s response to the ongoing opioid and substance use disorder (SUD) epidemic. He also secured nearly $1 million for SUD treatment for Maine through the American Rescue Plan. At the beginning of the 118^th Congress, he wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley highlighting the significant threat posed to Maine and the country by the international drug trade.

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