Global engagement on precision operations

By Lt. Gen. Ken Tovo, commanding general, U.S. Army Special Operations Command and Maj. Duane Mosier, U.S. Army Special Operations CommandSeptember 29, 2016

After 15 years of conflict, Army Special Operations Forces remain fully engaged globally developing relationships, building partner forces that endure and succeed, and countering a range of threats to our national security and that of our allies. On any given day of the past year, ARSOF Soldiers were deployed to more than 70 countries supporting Geographic Combatant Commanders and other elements of the U.S. Government. While remaining globally engaged as the Army Service Component Command to USSOCOM, and the special operations component of the Total Army, USASOC continued an extensive reorganization. The effort, known as ARSOF 2022, optimized USASOC capabilities for more effective execution of operations across the spectrum of conflict and specifically in the gray zone between peace and war. The status of our ARSOF 2022 reorganization and related capabilities represents one of the three milestones discussed in this article. Also included are three areas of focus for the coming year that will further enable ARSOF to provide operational options national decision makers need to counter violent extremist organizations and potential rival nations globally.

2015-2016 MILESTONES

GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT

Over the past year, ARSOF worked with and through partner forces to counter violent extremist organizations and to counter regional aggression where nation-states, such as Russia, threaten the international order. Our forces also developed and strengthened relationships with partner nations, built partner capacity, and provided early understanding of trends, opportunities, and threats in critical regions of the world. When called upon, USASOC forces executed precision direct action operations, enabled by SOF unique intelligence, technology, and targeting processes. In each case, ARSOF Soldiers employed their unique skills, to include cultural and language expertise, to successfully navigate complex operating environments.

In CENTCOM, Army Special Forces Soldiers maintained pressure on insurgent networks in Afghanistan through partnered operations, enabled host nation forces to counter extremist threats in Lebanon, and empowered security forces to recapture cities from the Islamic State in Iraq. In EUCOM, Special Forces, Psychological Operations, and Civil Affairs Soldiers worked to professionalize Ukrainian SOF capabilities and those of other European allies to counter Russian aggression. In AFRICOM, USASOC Soldiers enabled host nation partners to counter violent extremist organizations in countries such as Somalia, Mauritania, Niger, and Chad. In PACOM, 75th Ranger Regiment conducted partnered training in Korea while other USASOC units partnered with host nation forces in Taiwan, Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Japan. In SOUTHCOM, Special Forces, along with Psychological Operations and Civil Affairs teams, developed partner capabilities in Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Colombia. In NORTHCOM, USASOC Soldiers trained, advised, and assisted Mexican partner forces and enabled their operations against transregional criminal organizations through fusion cell activities. These examples represent a small number of the training events, exercises, engagements, and partnered operations executed worldwide by ARSOF.

Additionally, Army Special Operations Aviation Command (ARSOAC) executed engagements to build partner aviation capacity in AFRICOM, CENTCOM, EUCOM, and SOUTHCOM. In Tunisia, ARSOAC personnel advised partner forces on rotary wing attack tactics. In Lebanon, they taught Lebanese air crews aspects of close air support, mission planning, and air-to-ground integration. In the United Kingdom, the training effort shared tactics and techniques with allied aviators and crews. In Brazil, ARSOAC personnel shared planning practices for time sensitive missions to aid host nation aviators and planners in preparation for their 2016 Summer Olympics security mission.

ARSOF 2022 TRANSFORMATION

ARSOF 2022 reorganized specific USASOC formations to provide specialized means to characterize, understand, and affect operating environments. The reorganization unified Special Forces, Psychological Operations, Civil Affairs, and Special Operations Sustainment under the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) (Provisional) headquarters. It restructured the 4th Battalions of each of the five Active Duty Special Forces Groups, creating units of action designed to assist in understanding, defining, and preparing the operating environment, especially for unconventional warfare operations. The reorganization also enabled 1st SFC (A) (P) to field a deployable and scalable Special Operations Joint Task Force headquarters to synchronize SOF effects for joint force commanders.

In the past year, 1st SFC (A) (P) deployed a two-star General Officer headquarters to establish Special Operations Joint Task Force -- Operation Inherent Resolve (SOJTF-OIR), as the SOF component headquarters of CJTF-OIR. SOJTF-OIR assumed responsibility for synchronizing regional SOF effects in the fight against the Islamic State. Members of SF 4th Battalions deployed to characterize and gain an advanced understanding of the environment in support of SOJTF-OIR and other joint commanders around the world. PsyOp Special MISO Advanced Research Teams and Civil Affairs units from 1st SFC also deployed in support of SOJTF-OIR and other requirements worldwide. These deployments move ARSOF 2022 into the employment phase, as 1st SFC Soldiers execute missions that leverage our optimized capabilities.

The SOJTF headquarters construct now represents a key aspect of SOF Mission Command for operations requiring unification of multiple SOF formations and missions. In Afghanistan, SOJTF-A unified SOF efforts to develop partner capabilities, achieve effects with and through partner forces, and deliver precision direct action capabilities against complex insurgent targets. Partnered operations under SOJTF-A continue to disrupt insurgent networks and defeat enemy concentrations while capacity building takes place. In some cases, SOJTF-A capacity building has matured to a point that Afghan partner forces now operate unilaterally, as seen with the Afghan Special Operations Kandaks under the Afghan National Army Special Operations Corps.

SOF-CF INTERDEPENDENCE, INTEROPERABILITY, AND INTEGRATION

As we face dynamic and changing conditions in the global security environment, it is more important than ever for SOF and CF to achieve interdependence, interoperability, and integration. In 2015, USASOC initiated efforts to improve the way in which SOF and CF elements function together in training and operating environments. These efforts continue and build upon successes achieved in the past year through SOF-CF training at home station and OCONUS, establishment of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School Foreign Weapons Course for CF Soldiers, ARSOAC support to 10th CAB preparation for campaign plan requirements, Special Operations Center of Excellence collaboration and exchanges with the Army Centers of Excellence, 75th Ranger Regiment personnel contributions to CF (75th Ranger Regiment Charter), and the USASOC and FORSCOM partnership for SOF-CF communications/network connectivity testing and validation. Additionally, USASOC units are participating in sixteen Combat Training Center (CTC) rotations and four of nine MCTP iterations in FY16. ARSOF will also participate in eighteen CTC rotations, one JMRC rotation, and five MCTP (Warfighter Exercises) in FY17.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE -- 2016-2017

Army Special Operations represent tailorable and scalable options for understanding culturally complex environments and emerging threats. Persistent engagement with partner nations also allows ARSOF to identify where opportunities exist to counter the actions of potential rival nations, violent extremist organizations, and transregional criminal elements. Nations such as Iran, Russia, the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, and the People's Republic of China challenge the current international security dynamic as they seek greater influence over regional neighbors. At the same time, a variety of violent extremist and criminal organizations continue to seek opportunities that advance their agendas transregionally. To more effectively counter adversarial state and non-state actions, USASOC is focused on advancing our unconventional warfare, precision direct action, influence, and cyber capabilities while pursing ways to more effectively leverage CONUS based resources.

UNCONVENTIONAL WARFARE AND PRECISION DIRECT ACTION

In an effort to address current and future threats to regional stability in countries around the world, USASOC is focused on enabling low cost, high payoff options such as UW and precision DA. USASOC will pursue technology and methodologies in the coming year that support the ongoing application of UW by deployed elements. The focus includes efforts to understand how deployed elements are executing UW, providing solutions to assist forward efforts, cataloging and describing successes, and capturing lessons learned in order to recraft institutional doctrine and curriculum. USASOC will also seek to creatively employ existing and emerging technology in support of partner forces, to include MQ-1C Gray Eagles and the methodology we use to employ these highly effective assets to enable partner forces.

We are also focused on advancing aspects of our targeting and information synthesis processes to enhance our precision DA capabilities in the coming year. As technology evolves with increasing speed, ARSOF must incorporate emerging means of aggregating our data streams and improve the speed and ease with which we synthesize information. Better tools are needed to aggregate existing feeds into a single interactive interface through which commanders and staffs can plan and execute operations.

INFLUENCE AND CYBER

Over the coming year, USASOC will explore emerging technologies and methods of operation that enable ARSOF MISO to influence target audiences and control the narrative in support of operations at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. USASOC will explore new and creative ways to influence with and through host nation forces while partnering with DoD and interagency organizations to maximize effects. We must also fully integrate cyber enabled operations into our portfolio of capabilities as a means to execute targeted information and influence campaigns, digital deception, and communication disruption at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels.

OPERATIONALIZING THE CONUS BASE

USASOC is taking the next step in operationalizing the CONUS base in support of deployed forces. Over the next year, USASOC will seek new ways to leverage CONUS based capabilities that connect analytical and other means of support with forward deployed units. The effort will explore authorities needed to leverage CONUS assets and the infrastructure needed to employ capabilities in support of deployed forces. By leveraging the CONUS base, USASOC can deploy fewer people forward while maximizing their employment in support of operational requirements.

USASOC -- Our Future Force

The future operating environment will present challenges that demand ARSOF to be adaptive, flexible, rapidly responsive, and capable of succeeding in ambiguous circumstances. In an effort to prepare the ARSOF capabilities needed by our Army, SOCOM, and the Nation in the future, USASOC developed and published USASOC Strategy-2035. The strategy predicts how the future operating environment will challenge our forces and identifies capabilities needed within our formations to address nation-state and non-state threats of the future. By taking deliberate steps to prepare our force for the future, we remain committed to the ARSOF Soldier's Promise to the Nation -- "I protect the Nation, without fear, without fail, without equal."

AUTHORS

LTG Ken Tovo assumed command of U.S. Army Special Operations Command in July 2015. He has commanded at every level from Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha to Theater Special Operations Command. Most recently, he served as the Deputy Commander of U.S. Southern Command in Miami, FL. LTG Tovo's operational assignments include the first Gulf War, refugee relief operations in Northern Iraq, noncombatant evacuation operations in Sierra Leone, two peacekeeping deployments to Bosnia, five tours in Iraq, and one tour in Afghanistan.

MAJ Duane Mosier currently serves in the USASOC Commander's Initiatives Group. His past assignments include Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha Commander, Plans Officer at Special Operations Command Central, Special Forces Company Commander, and Battalion Executive Officer. MAJ Mosier's operational assignments include a peacekeeping deployment to Bosnia, four tours in Iraq, a deployment to Mongolia, and a tour in Qatar.

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