Help Me, Help You: Expanding the SOF Reserve FID Mission
Abstract
The world is no longer a safe place. The enemy does not stand on its side of the battlefield and wait for the fight to begin. The threat of terrorism is everywhere. The battle against terrorism cannot be won by winning one battle, by killing one leader, or by securing one country. Terrorists thrive and grow in weak nations and ungoverned areas around the world, and that is where they must be stopped. The US National Security Strategy recognized this need to fight a "balanced" war. The balance must come from a direct and indirect approach to warfighting. The direct approach uses US forces, along with coalition partners, to fight and disrupt the current violent extremist organizations and their supporters. With the indirect approach, US forces work with host nation partners around the world so those partners can self-secure their borders, stabilize their regions, and prevent the growth of these terrorist organizations. The Department of Defense tasked USSOCOM as the "Global Synchronizer" for the Global War on Terror (GWOT) due to its expertise in Unconventional Warfare and successful history of fighting terrorism. As a high demand, low-density force, USSOCOM is struggling to meet all its new worldwide commitments, and some of its Foreign Internal Defense (FID) missions are going unfulfilled. To balance these requirements, they must utilize their total force more effectively. USSOCOM can achieve this by reprioritizing the Special Operations Force (SOF) reserves to focus on FID and by expanding the current SOF reserve force. Refocusing and growth of the SOF reserves will alleviate pressure on the overburdened active duty forces, while helping to fulfill those indirect mission requirements necessary to stop the global expansion of terrorism.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 03, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA530194
Entities
People
- Daniel S. Layton
Organizations
- National Defense University