Exclusive: British MOD refuses to tell Canary if UK personnel are aboard US warships

Reports this week have revealed that British military personnel are currently aboard the American warships poised to strike Venezuela.

In communication with the Canary, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has refused to say who, exactly, the personnel are.

On 17 November, Sky News reported that Royal Navy personnel were aboard the US navy’s supercarrier, USS Ford, and another unspecified US warship.

The news comes as US President Donald Trump moves to designate state-aligned actors in Venezuela.

Cartel de los Soles, is a loose network comprising ex-military, involved in drug trafficking, is top of their hit list — recently designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US State department. 

The designation which will take effect next week could serve as legal cover for future military actions in the Caribbean.

Reporting on the latest revelation, Sky News said:

A small number of British military personnel – single digits – are understood to be deployed on USS Gerald R Ford, a giant US aircraft carrier, and other warships that form part of the carrier strike group that has been sent towards Venezuela.

On 17 November, Defence Secretary John Healey told Sky:

We will make sure as we always do that our British military are consistent with international humanitarian law.

The revelation comes a week after media-reports alleged that the UK has ended some intelligence sharing with the US. This was a result of British concerns over the legality of airstrikes against so-called ‘narcoterrorist’ boats.

Challenged by the Canary on November 18, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) refused to confirm if any of the embedded personnel were pilots or aircrew.

They also refused to confirm if any Royal Marines were on board the American ships. The Royal Marines’ Special Boat Service (SBS) are the UK equivalent of Navy SEALs.

The ‘special relationship’ the two countries boast is historical, as is joint engagement in covert operations. The American special forces mothership MV Ocean Trader is also active in the Caribbean.

Details denied to the Canary

The Canary made a request for the numbers, plus ranks, specialisms, and trades of UK personnel in the Caribbean armada positioned to undertake operations related to Venezuela. 

A Royal Navy Spokesperson told us:

Armed forces personnel regularly serve on exchange programmes with our key military partners around the world.

They added a single bulleted caveat:

We do not provide specific details on individuals due to operational and personal security.

With that in mind, we asked for a general confirmation of whether embedded personnel were aircrew or Royal Marines. The latter serve as the Navy’s infantry and contribute a large number of personnel to UK special forces, alongside many other roles. The spokesperson refused to divulge further details:

We cannot provide any further information at this time.

Other indicators of British involvement have surfaced in recent days.

The hard-right Murdoch-owned Sun newspaper and the Navy’s own website seem to confirm Lieutenant Commander Owen Long is currently serving as a navigator aboard the USS Winston Churchill, currently deployed in the Caribbean.

The Sun claimed that there were three UK personnel deployed in the Caribbean under US command.

British pilots, US planes

Exactly who the other two Brits are is unclear. But their presence recalls an incident from a decade back.

In 2015, a Freedom of Information Request (FOI) revealed British pilots had bombed Islamic State group targets in Syria in 2015. The personnel had been secretly embedded in the US and Canadian military.

But in 2013, a vote in the House of Commons had rejected bombing ISIS in Syria, which had been allowed in neighbouring Iraq. The NGO Reprieve, which submitted the FOI, at the time said:

It is alarming that parliament and the public have been kept in the dark about this for so long.

[…] more worrying is the fact that the UK seems to have turned over its personnel to the US wholesale, without the slightest idea as to what they are actually doing, and whether it is legal.

On 12 November, CNN revealed the UK had stopped sharing some intelligence. That sharing was related to drug interdiction. The UK partners with the US for counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean. While the US claims it is fighting ‘narcoterrorism‘, regional actors say the US build-up is about regime change as usual.

The MOD urgently needs to disclose how many UK personnel are embedded in Trump’s regime change armada. Namely, their identities and titles, in this legally dubious build-up of forces.

Operation Southern Spear, as the mission is now called, is the biggest US escalation in the region since the 1994 invasion of Haiti.

 Featured image via Royal Navy