U.S. Army Special Forces Unconventional Warfare Doctrine: Engine of Change or Relic of the Past?

Abstract

As a mission and as a concept, unconventional warfare (UW), is the heart and soul of the United States Army's Special Forces (SF). Since SF was created in 1952, UW operations have been the "touchstone" for all developments in the organization. Doctrine for Joint Special Operations correctly defines a relevant UW mission for U.S. Special Operations Forces. But army Special Forces doctrine for UW operations focuses on only one aspect of UW - guerrilla warfare. This was appropriate in 1952 for the purpose of organizing partisans in Eastern Europe to oppose the Warsaw Pact. Today, however, guerrilla warfare is the least likely type of unconventional warfare operation to occur. Therefore, SF should now begin to focus on the indirect activities of unconventional warfare: subversion, sabotage and intelligence activities. Special Forces UW doctrine must also be updated to leverage new technological capabilities.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 07, 2000
Accession Number
ADA378713

Entities

People

  • Robert E. Kelley

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Cyber
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Asymmetric Warfare
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Employment
  • Green Berets
  • Guerrilla Warfare
  • Information Operations
  • Military History
  • Military Operations
  • Military Organizations
  • National Security
  • Psychological Operations
  • Seal Teams
  • Special Operations Forces
  • Terrorists
  • Unconventional Warfare
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.