Success and secrecy surrounding U.S. special operations missions around the world–such as the death of Osama bin Laden and the capture of Saddam Hussein– lean too far toward short-term goals and need to be rebalanced with training and cooperative goals that can produce long-term success as part of a wider, integrated campaign, says a new report published by the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Adopting a new vision for special operations forces that shifts from a tactical focus on removing individuals from a battlefield to a focus on achieving sustained political-military effect will require a shift in priorities and a concomitant rebalancing of the budget,” wrote Linda Robinson in the report, The Future of U.S. Special Operations Forces. “Without these improvements, special operations forces will remain largely a tactical force that achieves limited rather than enduring or decisive effects in confronting terrorism, insurgencies, and other irregular threats.”
Robinson divides what special operations forces do into two areas: direct action, that most are familiar with, such as the bin Laden raid, and indirect action, working through others, as such forces successfully did in the Philippines and Colombia.
Declining budgets and the expectation of continuing irregular threats means special operations forces will continue to be in high demand for national security purposes, the former adjunct senior fellow for CFR wrote in the report.
Special operations forces are in high demand but small in number, less than 5 percent of total U.S. military forces, drawing from all the services, she wrote, thus they can’t be everywhere.
The special operations budget for fiscal year 2012 was $10.5 billion, 1.4 percent of the total defense budget, Robinson wrote. That total rises to 4 percent of defense spending if contributions from the services in personnel and standard equipment are included.
“Though the special operations budget has more than quadrupled from $2.3 billion in 2001, the growth leveled off with a budget request of $10.4 billion for the 2013 fiscal year.
Robinson offers “conceptual, operational, and institutional changes to realign and rebalance the forces so they offer more to national security than just manhunting.
First, the special operations community must develop its intellectual capital and leadership. Also, long-duration capacity must be improved for working with partners. More flexible combinations of special operations forces and conventional forces must be developed, and institutions and budget must be reoriented to make the forces most effective. At the same time, direct action capabilities must not be lost.
“The recommendations here are additive, to raise the game of special operations forces in enabling and operating with partners in a range of political-military activities, and thereby improving other countries’ means to secure themselves,” Robinson wrote. “The phrase ‘You can’t kill your way to victory,’ coined by a special operator, is a useful signpost on the road to a more comprehensive approach to special operations as part of U.S. national security policy.”
The report can be found here: http://www.cfr.org/national-security-and-defense/future-us-special-operations-forces/p30323.