Three Decades Later

This year [2017] marks the 30-year historical point for the special operations forces [SOF], formed when Congress added an amendment to the Goldwater-Nichols reform legislation that created the United States Special Operations Command [USSOCOM]. Since that time, this force has been preserving strategic options for the U. S., and their track record is second to none. For the last decade and a half, we have relied heavily on SOF to perform activities in support of counterterrorism operations. However, we must keep in mind that SOF activities, such as unconventional warfare [UW], foreign internal defense, counter-messaging, and hostage rescue, remain equally important to countering aggression of other actors, including nation-states. Despite drawdowns of conventional forces and overseas contingencies, the demand for SOF remains high across the combatant commands. SOCOM and the Assistant Secretary for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict clearly have a lot on their plate. Last year SOCOM was assigned the responsibility for synchronizing the countering weapons of mass destruction [CWMD] mission from Strategic Command [STRATCOM]. The threats that the U. S. faces today are ever-evolving and complex and will continue to shape our special operations forces and policies for employment of those forces. In thinking about the years ahead, we must ask hard questions after nearly 16 years of constant war, including: What parts of this force are broken and what needs to be repaired quickly? What adversarial nation-states are advancing faster and achieving a qualitative edge over our forces? And what must we do to ensure that our special operations forces are postured for the next 30 years to mitigate our most pressing national security concerns and to continue to preserve strategic options for our Nation?