Reorganizing SOF for Irregular Warfare

Abstract

The U.S. military has developed doctrine to respond to Irregular Warfare (IW) threats. According to this doctrine, IW favors indirect approaches. Within USSOCOM, the Army Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations units were created to conduct special operations of an indirect nature. These units, specifically Army Special Forces have been heavily engaged in major combat operations in OIF and OEF and unable to break away in order to return to their assigned Areas of Responsibility (AORs). This thesis explores how a reorganization of USSOCOM in order to create an IW organization would fill capability gaps created by having 80% of USSOCOMs forces dedicated to Iraq and Afghanistan. This thesis identifies factors that need to be considered when creating an IW organization such as regional orientation and interagency capabilities. This thesis also outlines two possibilities for an IW organization as a framework to create a starting point and an ending point along the spectrum of organizational possibilities. This thesis concludes with a recommended IW organization.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2008
Accession Number
ADA493818

Entities

People

  • Daniel K. Hedman

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Civil Affairs
  • Combat Operations
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Doctrine
  • Employment
  • Green Berets
  • Interagency Coordination
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychological Operations
  • Special Forces
  • Special Operations Forces
  • Terrorism
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control