DANIEL ESTRIN, HOST:
We are now going to hear about how this military operation played out and what the national security implications might be. We have NPR's national security correspondent Greg Myre joining us now. Greg, welcome.
GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Hi, Daniel.
ESTRIN: So we heard from General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, at today's press briefing in Florida. What did he say about the operation?
MYRE: Yeah, he started out by saying that the planning started months ago. There were lots of rehearsals, and this was a land, air and sea operation involving multiple branches of the military, as well as the intelligence community. The CIA and others were deeply involved. So lots of planning - and he said that by early December, everything was in place, and then they were just waiting for the right moment to launch because there were a lot of other issues, primarily weather conditions. You're dealing with the Caribbean Sea, the mountainous terrain, a lot of cloud cover.
ESTRIN: Yeah, and so talk about the moment when it finally arrived.
MYRE: Well, he said it came at 10:46 p.m. Washington Time, or Florida Time last night. Trump then gave the order from his residence at Mar-a-Lago. There were 150 planes leaving from 20 bases. This included bombers, fighter jets, surveillance aircraft, drones. And they were all, in some way, helping to protect the special operations forces that were being carried in on helicopters.
Now, these helicopters reached Maduro's compound in Caracas at 1:01 a.m., and the helicopters came under fire. One of them was hit but was still able to fly, according to Caine. Now, he said the U.S. forces found Maduro and his wife. Trump said they were trying to flee and had reached a safe room with a heavy steel door, but they couldn't quite close it. The U.S. troops seized them and then quickly left. The forces were over the water over the Caribbean by 3:29 a.m., landed on the USS Iwo Jima in the Caribbean. Some U.S. troops were injured but no fatalities, no equipment lost. Venezuela has said that they did suffer casualties. We don't know how many.
ESTRIN: And what might the U.S. military be doing next?
MYRE: Well, they're remaining in the region on high alert. Trump said they are ready for a second wave, but they certainly indicated that there are no U.S. troops there in Venezuela at the moment. And just a quick reminder, Trump has bombed six countries but had been this past year - but he had been reluctant to put troops on the ground, and it seemed to be a red line for him. But in his news conference, Trump said, quote, "we're not afraid of boots on the ground. We're going to make sure this country is run properly. We can't just leave."
So he is certainly suggesting a sustained U.S. presence. What we don't know is if it will involve U.S. troops. He said that Venezuela would be run by the people that were with him at the news conference - talking about Secretary of State Rubio, Pentagon Chief Hegseth - working in coordination with Venezuelans. But he didn't specify what role other U.S. officials, the diplomats, might play or what it would take to trigger another U.S. military response.
ESTRIN: Greg, in the region, are we expecting the U.S. to keep hitting suspected drug boats? Will it keep seizing oil tankers?
MYRE: Well, Trump said this oil embargo against Venezuela is still in effect, so that would seem to remain for now. He said U.S. oil companies, as we've heard, would go in to help redevelop the oil industry. And then he also said that the U.S. seems to have been very effective in stopping the drug trafficking. But he didn't explicitly say what that would mean for a campaign against the boats that have been hit numerous times in the past few months.
ESTRIN: OK. NPR's Greg Myre, thank you so much.
MYRE: Sure thing, Daniel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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