How Should SOF Be Organized?
Abstract
Today, Special Operations Forces (SOF) provide policy makers with Economy of Force and Expansion of Choice options. Unfortunately, not all countries are well positioned to capitalize on SOF as a strategic asset, and not all SOF organizations are appropriately structured at the national-level for the SOF system to be a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Organizational structure does matter. Against this backdrop, this thesis addresses the following question: How should military SOF be organized to ensure that they can be an effective and relevant national instrument? This research question is approached through a comparative case study method, with the following two objectives: (1) to elucidate the strengths and weaknesses of different organizational models used by SOF, which in turn, will help to establish which model is optimal (here, an organizational theory, known as the Congruence Model, is applied to four case studies where the strengths and weaknesses of each case and its organizational model are illuminated); (2) to generate key considerations vis-a-vis the design and establishment of a national-level SOF organization. This involves using the insights garnered from the case studies. The insights will be further distilled and generalized into design considerations. The thesis examines four different organizational models (SOF Service-centric (Israel), National Military Staff Element (Norway), Component Command (France), and Service (Australia)) to elucidate their strengths and weaknesses. Recommendations are made that should be particularly relevant for countries contemplating a transformation of their SOF.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA547828
Entities
People
- Puay H. Goh
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School