Righting the Course for America’s Special Operators
Mark E. Mitchell and Doug Livermore
November 23, 2020
“I have directed the special operations civilian leadership to report directly to me. It will put special operations command on par with the military services for the first time.â€
– Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller
With his momentous statements delivered during a recent event at Fort Bragg, Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller significantly progressed a herculean effort some thirty years in the making. Elevating the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict to a position equal to the Defense Department service secretaries might sound like bureaucratic reshuffling, but it will change the shape of American power. This change will greatly increase the impact of special operations on national defense, improve advocacy for special operations personnel and their families, and assert real civilian control and oversight of U.S. Special Operations Command. Regardless of who serves as secretary of defense in the Biden administration, these changes ought to be sustained and institutionalized. The incoming secretary of defense should adopt comprehensive policies to advance these reforms. Further, Congress should enact long-overdue legislative changes to make them permanent.
Why Does This Matter?
The Nunn-Cohen Amendment to the 1987 National Defense Authorization Act, which established both the Office of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict and U.S. Special Operations Command, intended to create a collaborative relationship between the two organizations. While U.S. Special Operations Command would serve as the functional combatant command with both administrative and operational authorities, the assistant secretary would provide civilian oversight, advocacy, collaboration, and policy direction in a “service-like†secretary role. By consolidating and codifying the command, control, and direction of special operations, Congress sought to provide U.S. special operators the sort of stability and unity of effort they had not enjoyed since the heady days of the Office of Strategic Services during World War II.
https://warontherocks.com/2020/11/righting-the-course-for-americas-special-operators/
