U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF): Background and Issues for Congress

Abstract

Special Operations Forces (SOF) play a significant role in U.S. military operations and, in recent years, have been given greater responsibility for planning and conducting worldwide counterterrorism operations. U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has about 70,000 Active Duty, National Guard, and reserve personnel from all four services and Department of Defense (DOD) civilians assigned to its headquarters, its four Service component commands, and eight sub-unified commands. In 2013, based on a request from USSOCOM (with the concurrence of Geographic and Functional Combatant Commanders and the Military Service Chiefs and Secretaries), the Secretary of Defense assigned command of the Theater Special Operations Commands (TSOCs) to USSOCOM. USSOCOM now has the responsibility to organize, train, and equip TSOCs. While USSOCOM is now responsible for the organizing, training, and equipping of TSOCs, the Geographic Combatant Commands will continue to have operational control over the TSOCs. Because the TSOCs are now classified as sub-unified commands, the Services are responsible to provide non-SOF support to the TSOCs in the same manner in which they provide support to the Geographic Combatant Command headquarters.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 06, 2017
Accession Number
AD1024461

Entities

People

  • Andrew Feickert

Organizations

  • Congressional Research Service

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerial Warfare
  • Air Force
  • Combat Control Teams
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Employment
  • Military Force Levels
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Rotary Wing Aircraft
  • Seal Teams
  • Special Operations Forces
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United States Special Operations Command
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Personnel Management and Statistics in the Military and Department of Defense

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3