U.S. Special Operations Said To Need Boost

Paul McLeary/Washington

The U.S. Defense Department this year should formally determine a need for more aviation, civil affairs and psychological operations in its special operation forces, according to a leading Pentagon figure on the issues.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict & Interdependent Capabilities Michael Vickers said at an Aviation Week conference Wednesday that the Quadrennial Defense Review is also likely to reiterate a demand to grow U.S. SOF, as previously planned, and possibly even more.

While the strategy for special operators around the world is to "isolate and defeat" the enemy, the trick is to "fight a network with a network. We combine a direct and indirect approach" by denying terrorists sanctuary, whether that is physical sanctuary or cyber sanctuaries, as well as denying them access to WMD and other lethal and non-lethal weapons.

The problem with completing the mission, Vickers said, is a shortage of "IW [irregular war] enablers" such as rotary aircraft and instruments of soft power that deal with what counterinsurgency theorists have termed the "human terrain." More intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability also is needed.

Overall, "we find shortages in ISR, rotary lift or aviation, or civil affairs and psyops," Vickers said, which complicates completing missions in theater. What is needed going forward, he continued, is a greater emphasis on interagency operations and planning, to be able to effectively conduct direct combat and civil affairs operations simultaneously.

This mix is crucial in order to defeat the "hybrid threat" presented by enemies like Hezbollah, who use a mix of insurgent and conventional tactics which they combine with savvy media operations and social programs for the local population, on which they rely for support.

Vickers spoke at Aviation Week's Defense Technology and Requirements Conference in Washington.

Photo credit: U.S. Air Force