The importance of being special: Planning for the future of US Special Operations Forces

Defense and Security Analysis

Volumn 19, Issue 3, 2003, Pages 203-218

  Fitzsimmons, Michael ^a  

^a NONE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

MILITARY APPLICATION; PLANNING METHOD;

EID: 23444432165     PISSN: 14751798     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/1475179032000118795     Document Type: Review

References (43)

1. There are approximately 29,000 active duty SOF personnel (46,000 including reserves), or 2 percent of all active duty personnel. Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict and US Special Operations Command, United States Special Operations Forces: Pasture Statement 2000, Department of Defense, 2000, p. 41;
2. the proposed FY2004 SOF-specific budget, Major Force Program 11, is $6.7 billion, or 1.8 percent of the total defense budget. Office of the Undersecretary of Defense, Comptroller, National Defense Budget Estimates for the FY2004 Budget, Department of Defense, 2003, p. 81.
3. See Donald Rumsfeld, "DoD News Briefing", transcript of press conference, January 7, 2003. Available on the web at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jan2003/t01072003_t0107sd.html;
4. and Senior Defense Officials, "Backgrounder with Senior Defense Officials on Special Operations", transcript of press conference, January 7, 2003. Available on the web at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jan2003/t01072003_t107bkgd.html
5. Office of the Undersecretary of Defense, Comptroller, National Defense Budget Estimates for the FY2004 Budget, Department of Defense, 2003, p. 81.
6. General Charles Holland, Commander, SOCOM, "Statement before the House Armed Service Committee", March 12, 2003. Near-term personnel additions will be focused in aviation units and theater command-level planning staffs.
7. For brief overviews on SOF operations in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, see, respectively, Dana Priest, '"Team 555' Shaped a New Way of War; Special Forces and Smart Bombs Turned Tide and Routed Taliban", Washington Post, April 3, 2002, p. A1;
8. and James Dao, "War Plan Drew US Commandos from Shadows", New York Times, April 28, 2003, p. A1.
9. SOCOM, 10th Anniversary History, 1997, p. 11, and Congressional committee staff member, interview by author, by phone, Washington, DC, June 24, 2002.
10. General Accounting Office, Special Operations Forces: Force Structure and Readiness Issues, GAO/NSIAD-94-105, Washington, DC: GAO, March 1994, p. 4.
11. SOCOM, op. cit., p. 11.
12. General Accounting Office, Special Operations Forces: Opportunities to Preclude Overuse and Misuse, GAO/NSIAD-97-85, Washington, DC: GAO, May 1997.
13. See Kenneth Tovo, Special Forces Missions' Focus for the Future: A Monograph, Ft Leavenworth, Kansas, 1995, p. 1.
14. Roxana Tiron, "Demand for Special Ops Forces Outpaces Supply", National Defense, May 2003, p. 18; Congressional committee staff member, interview, and OASD/SOLIC (Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense/Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict) representative, interview by author, Arlington, VA, July 12, 2002.
15. Christopher Lamb, "Perspectives on Emerging SOF Roles and Missions: The View from the Office of the Secretary of Defense", in Richard H. Schultz, Jr., Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr, and W. Bradley Stock, Roles and Missions of SOF in the Aftermath of the Cold War, Medford, MA: Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1994, p. 201.
16. For example, see Thomas K. Adams, US Special Operations Forces in Action: The Challenge of Unconventional Warfare, London: Frank Cass, 1998.
17. For definitions of missions, see United States Special Operations Forces: Posture Statement 2000, pp. 43-4.
18. For detailed descriptions of SF coalition support activities, see K. Tovo, op. cit., pp. 16-20
19. and Lloyd Newton and Richard Corson, "SOCOM View on Capabilities", in Schultz et al., op. cit., p. 247.
20. Senior Defense Officials, "Backgrounder with Senior Defense Officials on Special Operations", transcript of press conference, January 7, 2003.
21. Leslie Fuller, US Special Operations Forces in Peacekeeping Operations, Carlisle, PA: Army War College, 1996, pp. 14-19.
22. Congressional committee staff member, interview, June 24, 2002.
23. See Lt Col. Steven A. McCain, Information Dominance: Special Operations Forces in MOOTW, Carlisle, PA: Army War College, 1997, p. 31.
24. For a contrary perspective on SOF and IO, see Major Mark E. Mitchell, Strategic Leverage: Information Operations and Special Operations Forces, Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 1999.
25. Charles J. Dunlap Jr, "Organizational Change and the New Technologies of War", Paper presented to the Joint Services Conference on Professional Ethics, Washington, DC, January 30, 1998.
26. Charles J. Dunlap Jr, "Organizational Change and the New Technologies of War", Paper presented to the Joint Services Conference on Professional Ethics, Quoted in ibid., p. 137.22.
27. See Stephen D. Biddle, Afghanistan and the Future of Warfare: Implications for Army and Defense Policy, Carlisle, PA: US Army War College, November 2002.
28. General Accounting Office, op. cit., p. 4.
29. See Janice Mitchell, Special Operations Forces as Humanitarians? You Bet!, Newport, RI: Naval War College, 1993.
30. Marshall Billingslea, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict, "Statement Before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities, House Armed Services Committee: Concerning Special Operations Forces Acquisition", Washington, DC, April 1, 2003.
31. OASD/SOLIC representative, interview.
32. Susan L. Marquis, Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding US Special Operations Forces, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1997, pp. 7-8.
33. Billingslea, "Statement before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities, House Armed Services Committee: Concerning Special Operations Forces Acquisition".
34. Program Analyst, Office of the Secretary of Defense, interview by author, by phone, Arlington, VA, June 27, 2002.
35. John M. Collins, interview by author, by phone, Alexandria, VA, July 9, 2002.
36. David Hackworth, "A Waste of the Best and the Bravest", Defense Watch, August 7, 2002. Available online at http://www.sftt.org/dw08072002.html
37. While most traditional Ranger missions should be considered for such a devolution, some current direct action Ranger activities are integral components of Combating Terrorism and Counter-proliferation missions conducted by Delta, SF, and SEALs and will need to remain closely linked to SOF. Mark R. Lewis of the Institute for Defense Analyses pointed out this important distinction.
38. United States Special Operations Forces: Posture Statement 2000, Washington, DC: DoD, p. 52.
39. Billingslea, "Statement before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities, House Armed Services Committee: Concerning Special Operations Forces Acquisition", in FY2004 and FY2005, plans call for the addition of two active CA companies, one reserve CA battalion, two active PSYOP companies and four reserve PSYOP companies.
40. I b i d.
41. Otto Kreisher, "The USMC-SOCOM Connection", Seapovier, March 2003, p. 47.
42. Senator William Cohen, "Enhancement of Capabilities to Combat Terrorism", S. 2453, May 15, 1986.
43. Quoted in Marquis, Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding US Special Operations Forces, p. 135.