Special Operations Forces Culture and Climate: The Future of the Force

Abstract

I view the issue of special operations forces (SOF) culture and climate through the lens of what the nation asks of its SOF, which shapes who they are and what they do. SOF are a unique asset to serve national security interests. As the array of assigned missions in Title 10 U.S. Code Section 167 indicates, SOF are relatively flexible which places considerable responsibility on policymakers to carefully determine their appropriate uses. This challenge is compounded at historical inflection points (such as the current one), when strategic conditions dictate are prioritization. The 2018 National Defense Strategy elevated interstate competition while continuing to articulate robust counterterrorism objectives. Two decades of high operational tempo and frequent combat by SOF have exacted a toll that requires ongoing remediation. Systemic issues that are critical to the future of the force, prominently including the lack of gender, racial, and ethnic diversity in the force, also merit sustained attention.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 26, 2021
Accession Number
AD1126488

Entities

People

  • Linda Robinson

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Counter WMD
  • Cyber
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Asymmetric Warfare
  • Communities
  • Congress
  • Corporations
  • Counterterrorism
  • Department Of Defense
  • Foreign Relations
  • Governments
  • Green Berets
  • House Of Representatives
  • Intellectual Property
  • Law
  • Military Organizations
  • National Security
  • Public Policy
  • Special Operations Forces
  • United States
  • United States Special Operations Command
  • Warfare
  • Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Readers

  • Economics
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Organizational Psychology.