Special Operations.Com

U.S. Special Operations Primer

This page is intended to provide an overview of modern U.S. Special Operations Forces.

SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES

Special Operations Forces (SOF) serve four purposes that are increasingly important in the current international environment. First, they are critical to peacetime engagement and crucial to deterrence. Second, they expand the range of options available to decision makers confronting crises and conflicts below the threshold of war, such as terrorism, insurgency, and sabotage. Third, they act as force multipliers in support of conventional forces engaged in major conflicts, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the U.S. military effort. Finally, they expand national capabilities to react to situations requiring regional orientation and cultural and political sensitivity, including military-to-military contacts and noncombatant missions like humanitarian assistance, security assistance, and peacekeeping operations.

SOF's HERITAGE: ROLES AND MISSIONS

Special Operations Forces have a dual heritage. They are the nation's penetration and strike force, able to respond to specialized contingencies across the conflict spectrum with stealth, speed, and precision. They are also warrior-diplomats capable of influencing, advising, training, and conducting operations with foreign forces, officials, and populations. One of these two generic SOF roles is at the heart of each of the following prioritized special operations missions.

	Counterproliferation (CP). The activities of the Department of Defense across the full range of U.S. government efforts to combat proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, including the application of military power to protect U.S. forces and interests; intelligence collection and analysis; and support of diplomacy, arms control, and export controls. Accomplishment of these activities may require coordination with other U.S. government agencies.
	Combating Terrorism (CBT). Preclude, preempt, and resolve terrorist actions throughout the entire threat spectrum, including antiterrorism (defensive measures taken to reduce vulnerability to terrorist acts) and counterterrorism (offensive measures taken to prevent, deter, and respond to terrorism), and resolve terrorist incidents when directed by the National Command Authorities or the appropriate unified commander, or requested by the Services or other governmental agencies.
	Foreign Internal Defense (FID). Organize, train, advise, and assist host national military and paramilitary forces to enable these forces to free and protect their society from subversion, lawlessness, and insurgency.
	Special Reconnaissance (SR). Conduct reconnaissance and surveillance actions to obtain or verify information concerning the capabilities, intentions, and activities of an actual or potential enemy or to secure data concerning characteristics of a particular area.
	Direct Action (DA). Conduct short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions to seize, destroy, capture, recover, or inflict damage on designated personnel or material.
	Psychological Operations (PSYOP). Induce or reinforce foreign attitudes and behavior favorable to the originator's objectives by conducting planned operations to convey selected information to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals. These operations are conducted across the spectrum from peacetime to post-conflict and are by nature joint and often combined and interagency.
	Civil Affairs (CA). Facilitate military operations and consolidate operational activities by assisting commanders by establishing, maintaining, influencing, or exploiting relations between military forces and civil authorities, both governmental and nongovernmental, and the civilian population in a friendly, neutral, or hostile area of operations.
	Unconventional Warfare (UW). Organize, train, equip, advise, and assist indigenous and surrogate forces in military and paramilitary operations, normally of long duration.
	Information Warfare (IW)/Command and Control Warfare (C2W). Actions taken to achieve information superiority by affecting adversary information, information-based processes, information systems, and computer-based networks while defending one's own information, information-based processes, information-based systems, and computer-based networks.
	Collateral Activities. In the following areas, SOF share responsibility with other forces as directed by the geographic combatant commanders. Coalition Support. Integrate coalition units into multinational military operations by training coalition partners on tactics and techniques and providing communications. Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR). Penetrate air defense systems and conduct joint air, ground, or sea operations deep within hostile or denied territory at night or in adverse weather to effect the recovery of distressed personnel during wartime or contingency operations. Counterdrug (CD) Activities. Train host nation CD forces on critical skills required to conduct small unit CD operations in order to detect, monitor, and counter the production, trafficking, and use of illegal drugs. Humanitarian Demining Operations (HDO). Reduce or eliminate the threat to noncombatants and friendly military forces posed by mines, booby-traps, and other explosive devices by training host nation forces in the location, recognition, and safe disposal of mines and other destructive devices, as well as countermine program management and mine awareness programs. Humanitarian Assistance (HA). Provide assistance of limited scope and duration to supplement or complement the efforts of host nation civil authorities or agencies to relieve or reduce the results of natural or man-made disasters or other endemic conditions such as human pain, disease, hunger, or privation that might present a serious threat to life or that can result in great damage to, or loss of, property. Security Assistance (SA). Provide training assistance in support of legislated programs which provide U.S. defense articles, military training, and other defense-related services by grant loans, credit, or cash sales in furtherance of national policies or objectives. Special Activities. Subject to militation imposed by Executive Order and in conjunction with a Presidential finding and congressional oversight, plan and conduct actions abroad in support of national foreign policy objectives so that the role of the U.S. government is not apparent or acknowledged publicly.

MAXIMIZING SOF's EFFECTIVENESS IN SUPPORT OF DEFENSE STRATEGY

To support the National Security Strategy, Special Operations Forces provide decision makers with increased options for achieving the national military objectives of promoting stability and thwarting aggression. To realize their full potential as strategic assets, SOF receive national level oversight to ensure their full integration into planning for conventional operations and interagency planning. Skillful integration with conventional forces allows SOF to be a force and diplomatic multiplier in conventional operations. DoD is improving SOF interoperability with conventional forces and ensuring SOF's inclusion in strategic planning, joint training, interagency exercises, and DoD educational curricula.

Special operations differ from traditional military operations in degree of political risk, often unconventional mode of employment, independence from friendly support, and their dependence on detailed intelligence and indigenous assets. For these reasons, some SOF missions carry an exceptionally high degree of physical risk. Because of the political sensitivities surrounding many SOF missions, where failure can damage national prestige, close coordination at the interagency level between DoD and other U.S. government agencies is necessary. Close interagency coordination maximizes SOF effectiveness in the political-military environment short of war.

SOF AND REGIONAL DANGERS -- MAJOR REGIONAL CONFLICTS

Special Operations Forces are force multipliers for U.S. conventional forces combating regional aggression. SOF contribute directly to conventional combat operations, complicating enemy operations through assistance to indigenous forces allied with the United States and sealing the victory through post-hostility and restoration activities. In Operation Desert Storm, for example, SOF conducted extensive information preparation of the battlefield, special reconnaissance, direct action, and other missions behind Iraqi lines, contributing to deception operations that misled the enemy about the coalition's operational plan and facilitated coalition warfare. Psychological operations leaflets and broadcasts encouraged over 17,000 Iraqis to defect and between 50,000 and 80,000 to surrender. Active and Reserve component Civil Affairs units managed displaced person and refugee operations and distributed humanitarian assistance, supplies, and services. Active and reserve PSYOP, as well as reserve CA, also assisted Kuwaiti government ministries in planning and executing the immediate post-conflict restoration.

Because of their language skills and regional orientation, Special Operations Forces are particularly well suited to conventional coalition warfare. For example, in Operation Desert Storm, SOF personnel were deployed as liaison officers to multinational staffs under the tactical control of the Commander in Chief (CINC) of the United States Central Command. Their in-depth knowledge of the coalition members, language, and militaries allowed them to successfully link the CINC to each member of the coalition. General Norman R. Schwarzkopf referred to this contribution as the glue that held the coalition together. SOF performed similar tasks in Operation Joint Endeavor.

SOF AND THE DANGERS POSED BY WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

The proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) weapons is one of the most serious security threats confronting the United States, its allies, and friends. When U.S. forces are faced with a theater NBC threat, SOF can assist in deterring, destroying, or defending against it. Psychological operations can support deterrence by communicating to foreign audiences a U.S. commitment and capability to prevent the proliferation and use of NBC weapons. SOF direct action capabilities contribute to deterrence and destruction options by providing a precision strike capability against weapons, storage facilities, and command and control centers. SOF special reconnaissance capabilities can contribute to the defense against NBC threats by providing real-time intelligence unavailable from other sources.

SOF AND REGIONAL DANGERS -- LOW INTENSITY CONFLICT

Special Operations Forces play an important role in low intensity conflict because of the unique capabilities resident in SOF and the special character of low intensity conflicts. Low intensity conflict is a particularly challenging area for the United States, because it encompasses a range of activities that weaken regional security and undermine the ability of the United States to accomplish its objectives. U.S. efforts to counter low intensity threats do not focus on traditional military objectives. They are not driven by the requirement to destroy enemy forces or capture terrain, but rather by the need to establish or reestablish an environment conducive to regional or international stability without resorting to the political, economic, and military risks of war. Terrorism, lawlessness, subversion, insurgency, and coups d'etat will continue to be some of the principal means by which national and subnational actors carve out their places in the world. Such activities may be used to weaken regional security by undermining support for U.S. presence, reducing U.S. access and influence, complicating the coordination of collective defense efforts, or directly attacking Americans, allies, or regimes friendly to the United States.

SOF AND THE CHALLENGES OF DEMOCRATIZATION

Many of the skills in the Special Operations Forces inventory are directly applicable to support friendly, democratic regimes. With their linguistic ability and cross-cultural sensitivities, SOF can quickly establish an effective working rapport with foreign military and paramilitary forces and, when required, government officials. In this capacity, SOF is a force multiplier for U.S. ambassadors and country teams throughout the world. Specifically, SOF (especially civil affairs, psychological operations, and Special Forces (SF)) can assess appropriate host nation projects, conduct disaster or humanitarian assistance planning seminars, and assist interagency coordination, foreign liaison, and public information programs. Operation Uphold Democracy is a classic example of how unique SOF language and cultural skills can be successfully applied in the initial stages of a peacetime military campaign plan. In Haiti, SOF performed a number of key functions beginning long before the arrival of U.S. forces, causing a significant decrease in the desperate exodus of Haitians and preparing the Haitian population for the return of democracy and the peaceful arrival of U.S. forces. During the peak of the multinational force phase of the operation, there were approximately 1,350 SOF personnel operating in small teams, based in 30 population centers throughout Haiti. From those centers, SOF visited over 500 towns and villages, where they were essential in establishing a safe and secure environment. SOF supported the NATO Implementation Force (IFOR) conducting Operation Joint Endeavor with approximately 1,350 personnel deployed to Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Belgium, Germany, and Italy. SOF conducted CA, PSYOP, special operations command and control element support to conventional forces, liaison coordination element support to foreign forces, and air support for IFOR.

Some military units, especially combat support and combat service support units -- such as engineer or medical units -- and even some civilian agencies benefit from having civil affairs, psychological operations, or SF personnel attached for overseas peacetime missions. Prior to deployment, SOF personnel can train members in the cultural aspects of their projects and in dealing with local military officials and civilians with whom they may come in contact. During deployment, SOF can assist in coordinating with local representatives and populations.

CURRENT AND RECENT OPERATIONS

The sensitivity of Special Operations precludes a discussion of most specific SOF activities in this report. However, examples of some recent operations include the following:

	SOF continue to support the United States Central Command in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, most recently by assisting with repatriation of Kurdish foreign nationals from northern Iraq and by continuing to support ongoing resettlement operations.
	SOF assisted the UN-sponsored humanitarian efforts in Bosnia and Croatia during Operation Provide Promise. Significant numbers of SOF supported the Implementation Force and continue to support the Stabilization Force in Bosnia. Additional humanitarian support and CSAR were provided for Operation Provide Comfort from Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, and Zahko, Iraq.
	SOF are assisting each of the theater unified commands in planning for democratization support missions.
	SOF continue to support U.S. counterdrug operations in Latin America. SOF trained and provided expert advice to host-nation armed forces and police dedicated to the counterdrug mission, primarily through exercises, joint and combined exercise training programs, and training teams. SOF teams conducted counterdrug missions in support of the Drug Enforcement Agency, the U.S. Information Agency, and U.S. country teams' narcotics affairs staffs. SOF also assisted country teams and host nations develop counterdrug information campaigns.
	SOF conducted humanitarian demining and mine awareness training in 12 countries in 1996.
	SOF supported the settlement of refugees and displaced persons in Rwanda.

The most telling benchmark of SOF's 1996 operations is the extremely high operating tempo of overseas deployments. SOF conducted over 1,240 missions to 136 countries and five territories. This heavy deployment schedule accomplished tasks in mandated primary and collateral mission areas. Additionally, the average number of SOF deployed overseas per week was 3,175, reflecting a slight decrease from weekly FY 1995 average figures.

FORCE STRUCTURE

Special Operations Forces are prepared to operate worldwide and across the spectrum of conflict. Approximately 44,000 active and Reserve Component personnel from the Army, Navy, and Air Force are assigned to the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). SOF are organized into three Service components and a joint command. In actual operations, Service component units are normally employed as part of a joint force by the theater CINCs through the theater Special Operations Command (SOC). The SOC normally forms a Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF), which may be employed independently or in support of a larger Joint Task Force (JTF). Psychological operations forces form a Joint PSYOP Task Force (JPOTF) to ensure a seamless blending of psychological operations supporting U.S. government policy. Civil Affairs units may be assigned as part of a JSOTF or a JTF, or as a separate Joint Civil-Military Operations Task Force (JCMOTF).

Army Special Operations Forces include Special Forces (Green Berets), Rangers, Special Operations Aviation (SOA), PSYOP, CA, signal, support, and headquarters units under the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC). Army Special Forces are organized into five active and two Army National Guard groups. The Ranger regiment consists of three active battalions, based at three locations in the United States. SOA consists of one active regiment in the United States and one detachment in Panama. PSYOP is organized into three groups, one active and two United States Army Reserve (USAR). The CA force structure consists of three USAR CA commands, nine USAR CA brigades, 24 USAR CA battalions, and one active duty CA battalion. Ninety-seven percent of the CA force is found in the USAR.

Naval Special Warfare (NSW) forces support naval and joint special operations within the theater unified commands. NSW forces are organized into two Naval Special Warfare Groups and two Special Boat Squadrons. Each Naval Special Warfare Group is composed of three Sea, Air, Land (SEAL) teams with 10 platoons and a SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) team. Also assigned to each of the groups are Naval Special Warfare Units, which are small command and control elements located outside the continental United States to support NSW forces assigned to theater SOCs or components of naval task forces. The Special Boat Squadrons and their subordinate Special Boat Units are responsible for operating and maintaining a variety of special operations vessels such as high speed boats and patrol coastal ships. The 82-foot Mark Five Special Operations Craft were delivered in August 1995; six (of 20 total) craft have been delivered. There are a total of 13 170-foot Cyclone Class Patrol Coastal ships in the Naval Special Warfare inventory. These ships provide long-range high speed craft capability in support of a variety of SOF mission areas, including coastal patrol and interdiction. Additionally, several nuclear attack submarines are configured to carry dry deck shelters for launching SDVs. Additional submarines are modified to host the Advanced SEAL Delivery System.

Air Force SOF are organized into one active Special Operations Wing, two active Special Operations Groups (one each in Pacific and European Commands), one Air Force Reserve Special Operations Wing, one Air National Guard Special Operations Wing, and one active Special Tactics Group. Within these units are Special Operations squadrons, some of which can perform long-range infiltration, aerial refueling, resupplying, or exfiltration missions deep within sensitive or enemy held territory. Some squadrons can conduct PSYOP leaflet drops, or broadcast radio or television signals, while other squadrons provide close air support, interdiction, and armed escort capabilities. These aircraft support both SOF and conventional forces.

COMMAND RELATIONSHIPS

The DoD Reorganization Act of 1986, as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act of 1987, mandated unique relationships for command, control, and oversight of SOF. The act directed the establishment of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict (ASD(SO/LIC)) to serve as the senior civilian advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and to the Secretary of Defense on matters pertaining to special operations and low intensity conflict. The act also directed the establishment of USSOCOM and assigned it several Service-like responsibilities, including those of program, budget, and acquisition. The policy and resource oversight responsibilities of ASD(SO/LIC) and the Service-like responsibilities of USSOCOM create a relationship which is unique within the Department of Defense. This relationship facilitates SOF's responsiveness and adaptability to the needs of the National Command Authorities in the changing national security environment.

SOF THEMES FOR THE FUTURE

Recognizing that the demand for forces to selectively respond to diverse regional concerns will be greater than ever, the following themes will continue to guide the SOF community:

	Ensure maximum flexibility consistent with full accountability. SOF missions are fluid, shaped by political context and tactical developments requiring modifications and expediencies. Adherence to rules of engagement and responsiveness to military and civilian authority are paramount.
	Encourage unorthodox approaches and unconventional techniques that bring flexible thinking and innovation in addressing unconventional security threats.
	Invest in science and technology to maintain technical superiority in weaponry, materiel, and delivery systems.
	Stress SOF utility for forward-basing, quick deployment, and adaptability to regional contingencies. The regional orientation of SOF is an essential ingredient of success.
	Continue to integrate SOF with conventional forces and other U.S. government agencies to further enhance SOF's ability to support their principal customers: the geographic CINCs, U.S. ambassadors and their country teams, and other government agencies.
	Design force structure to reflect the mix of SOF missions. As the sophistication of adversaries grows and the nature of SOF missions evolve, special operations activities may require greater specialization in training as physical and technical requirements increase. The linguistic, cultural, and political needs of the training and advisory mission will increase as the regional security environment becomes more complex.
	Ensure appropriate missions are tasked to SOF. Special Operations have key elements that distinguish them from conventional operations. The utility of SOF increasingly hinges upon regional knowledge, flexibility, political awareness, and discipline.

CONCLUSION

Special Operations Forces are particularly suited for many emerging missions which will flow from the National Security Strategy. Many of these missions require traditional SOF capabilities, while others such as counterproliferation and information warfare are relatively new and are the subject of developing SOF doctrine. Recent operations have proven that SOF are invaluable as facilitators and peacetime operators, as well as strike troops. In order to be as effective as possible, SOF face two major challenges: they must integrate -- with conventional forces, other U.S. agencies, friendly foreign forces, and other international organizations (like the United Nations and Red Cross) -- yet they must preserve the autonomy necessary to protect and encourage the unconventional approach that is the soul of Special Operations. This flexibility will facilitate meeting the other major challenge of the 1990s. SOF will continue to be surgically targeted, timely, and global in scope. SOF's language capability and regional and cultural orientation will continue to make them a peacetime force of choice that is mature, discrete, low profile, and effective. Future defense budgets will demand cost-effective solutions. Because of its low cost/high payback ratio, SOF will continue to be called upon as the nation seeks to promote stability and thwart aggression.