Special Ops Community Transforming To Meet Current, Future Challenges

Jim Garamone at the DOD News offers a piece on the transformation of the Special Operations community.

The Special Operations community is making progress in its transformation to focus more on the challenges of China and Russia while maintaining the expertise to mount counterterrorism operations worldwide, Chris Maier (seen in the above photo addressing Air Force personnel), the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict told the Senate Armed Services Committee today. 

Maier testified alongside Army Gen. Bryan Fenton, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, and both men were upbeat in their appraisal of where the community is and how it will get to the next level. 

While Maier is an assistant secretary, Congress gave his position many of the authorities wielded by service secretaries regarding special operations forces — or SOF, as it is often called. 

DOD officials are all in on this aspect, and Maier noted that when the Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III calls a meeting of the service secretaries, he sits at the table, too. 

"Sitting before this committee last year, I testified we were at an inflection point in SOF's transformation to focus more on the pacing challenge of China and the acute threat posed by Russia, while maintaining enduring capabilities to counter violent extremist organizations, address Iran's destabilizing behavior and conduct no-fail crisis response around the globe," Maier said.  

The assistant secretary stressed that special operations forces are not separate from the rest of the military, and they are pulling their weight in support of the National Defense Strategy. 

 

"We are transforming the SOF enterprise to achieve the goals of the NDS," he said. "While SOF’s role in counterterrorism is widely understood and appreciated, my team and I work daily to ensure the value proposition of SOF in integrated deterrence and campaigning against strategic competitors is accounted for and incorporated into the department's processes." 

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