Special Warfare and Surgical Strike is a better characterization of SOF capabilities than the direct and indirect approach in my opinion. Direct and indirect reach beyond SOF strategically – Special Warfare and Surgical Strike can support indirect and direct approaches but they are not the only tools or capabilities that support those approaches and therefore I do not think those approaches should be exclusively SOF because the US government can use the direct or indirect approach without the employment of SOF. However, Special Warfare and Surgical Strike are unique to SOF and should be considered subordinate to or supportive of the indirect and direct approaches.
V/R
Dave
Special Operations Forces Face Growing Problems in a Shrinking World
Tags: McRaven | SOF | Special Operations
The U.S. military is emerging from more than a decade of unconventional warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan to confront looming budget cuts in Washington, but leaders of the nation's Special Operations Forces (SOF) aren't counting on operations slowing down around the globe.
“We will likely remain engaged against violent extremist networks for the foreseeable future,” Admiral William H. McRaven, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) told a Senate committee hearing earlier this year.
But that engagement won't be limited to night raids, hostage rescues and covert insertions into hostile territory. Special operators will be partnering with the State Department and other federal agencies, as well as friendly foreign militaries, on non-kinetic programs to prevent extremists from capitalizing on political discontent, ethnic rivalries and economic frustration to fuel their strategy of terror and violence in places like Yemen, the Horn of Africa and countries bordering the Sahara Desert, according to McRaven and other U.S. officials.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton put it this way in a May 23 speech to SOF and defense industry leaders: “We need Special Operations Forces who are as comfortable drinking tea with tribal leaders as raiding a terrorist compound. We also need diplomats and development experts who understand modern warfare and are up to the job of being your partners.”
She also told the gathering in Tampa, Fla. – home to McRaven's USSOCOM headquarters – that “technology and globalization have made our countries and our communities interdependent and interconnected. And today's threats have become so complex, fast-moving and cross-cutting that no one nation could ever hope to solve them all.”
“We will likely remain engaged against violent extremist networks for the foreseeable future,” Admiral William H. McRaven, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) told a Senate committee hearing earlier this year.
But that engagement won't be limited to night raids, hostage rescues and covert insertions into hostile territory. Special operators will be partnering with the State Department and other federal agencies, as well as friendly foreign militaries, on non-kinetic programs to prevent extremists from capitalizing on political discontent, ethnic rivalries and economic frustration to fuel their strategy of terror and violence in places like Yemen, the Horn of Africa and countries bordering the Sahara Desert, according to McRaven and other U.S. officials.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton put it this way in a May 23 speech to SOF and defense industry leaders: “We need Special Operations Forces who are as comfortable drinking tea with tribal leaders as raiding a terrorist compound. We also need diplomats and development experts who understand modern warfare and are up to the job of being your partners.”
She also told the gathering in Tampa, Fla. – home to McRaven's USSOCOM headquarters – that “technology and globalization have made our countries and our communities interdependent and interconnected. And today's threats have become so complex, fast-moving and cross-cutting that no one nation could ever hope to solve them all.”
(Continued at the link above)
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