JUST IN: Global Competition Reshaping Special Operations
10/31/2023
By Laura Heckmann
WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the United States focused squarely on great power competition, Special Operations Forces are navigating a transition from a counterterrorism-focused force to one that can fight both peer adversaries and Pentagon bureaucracy.
Special Operations Forces are at an inflection point, Chris Maier, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, said at the National Defense Industrial Association’s SO/LIC Symposium Oct. 31.
A different adversary has driven SOF to look at a “different set of tools than has often been associated with the community,” Maier said, adding a “significant challenge” lies in getting “that value proposition for a different fight out there.”
Maier noted that Gen. Bryan Fenton, commander of Special Operations Command, has expressed frustration that SOF are still seen as the counterterrorism forces “across not only the interagency, but across allies and partners as well.”
https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2023/10/31/global-competition-reshaping-special-operations
