This Week in DOW: Taking Down Maduro, Seizing Suspicious Vessels, Launching Arsenal of Freedom Tour

This week, President Donald J. Trump announced the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, following a successful overnight joint U.S. military extraction in Venezuela's capital of Caracas.

Labeled Operation Absolute Resolve, the joint military and law enforcement mission to capture Maduro and Flores was the result of months of planning and rehearsal involving U.S. joint forces - including special operations forces - from multiple service branches, according to Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"As … Caine explained at the Jan. 3 Mar-a-Lago press conference, aircraft launched from 20 different bases on land and sea across the Western Hemisphere during the operation. In total, more than 150 aircraft were in the air that night with thousands and thousands of hours of experience," Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said today during the department's Weekly Sitrep video.

She added that the mission's youngest crew member was just 20 years old and the oldest was 49 years old, no warfighters were killed that night and all aircraft returned safely to their respective installations.

"President Trump and Secretary [of War Pete] Hegseth have sent a clear message to the world: the United States of America is the leader of the Western Hemisphere and the world; peace through strength is back," Wilson said.

Also this week, the War Department - in coordination with its interagency partners - conducted a predawn action in support of Trump's proclamation targeting sanctioned vessels that threaten security and stability in the area by seizing two suspicious oil tankers.

The first vessel, the M Sophia, was labeled by U.S. Southern Command officials as "a stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker," and was deemed to be conducting illicit activities while operating in international waters of the Caribbean Sea.

The second motor vessel, Bella 1, was seized in the North Atlantic, pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court after violating U.S. sanctions.

"The Department of War is unwavering in its mission to crush illicit activity in the Western Hemisphere. We will defend our homeland, restore security and strength across the Americas, and - as Secretary Hegseth has said - the blockade of sanctioned and illicit Venezuelan oil remains in full effect anywhere in the world," Wilson said.

Lastly, Hegseth made two stops on his just-launched "Arsenal of Freedom" tour this week, a call to action to revitalize America's manufacturing might and reenergize the nation's workforce. The monthlong campaign aims to promote one of the War Department's top priorities of rebuilding the military by engaging with the defense industrial base at various stops throughout the country.

"On this tour, we'll be traveling from the shipyards of the coast to the factories of the heartland to see the work being done by the military and our partners in American manufacturing, to usher in a new golden age of peace through strength - a revival of our industrial base - all-American, made by the best Americans," Hegseth told a large crowd while visiting a shipyard in Newport News, Virgina, Jan. 5.

"And today, [Hegseth] is in Los Angeles … visiting defense industry leaders to highlight the urgent need to rebuild our defense industrial base to ensure that we continue President Trump's and Secretary Hegseth's peace through strength agenda," Wilson said, adding that the tour's message will emphasize that national security and peace of the world move at the speed of our defense industrial base, and rely on the hard work of our American workforce.

While on the tour, Hegseth is also making stops to enlist recruits into the military.

Before heading to the shipyard Jan. 5, Hegseth administered the oath of enlistment to 30 individuals at a nearby recruiting station.

"What we care about at the War Department are the real men and women who do the real work in uniform for the American people," Hegseth told the recruits and their families, adding that less than 1% of Americans actually step up to serve in the military.

Yesterday, he administered the oath to an additional 40 recruits at the Los Angeles Military Entrance Processing Station.

"I look at this room, at these young Americans, [and] I see the best of our country. And my job as secretary of war is to serve - to serve your commanders, serve those who train you [and] serve those who prepare you - so that you are prepared, if and when that day comes, and we have your back in the process," Hegseth told the recruits.