Organizing SOCOM for Cross-Functional and Geographic Area Operations in the Global War on Terrorism

摘要

While Special Operations Command (SOCOM) has started to transform its organization, the nature of the terrorist threat requires something more. To defeat and deny/diminish the terrorist threat across geographic and functional areas of responsibility (AOR), SOCOM needs two entirely different organizations. One organization would operate in the very same seams as the terrorists, while the second organization would take on the mission of smoothing and preventing those seams. The first organization would plan, direct, and execute direct-action type operations designed to defeat the terrorist threat, while the second organization would plan, direct, and execute long-term, nonkinetic operations such as information operations (IO), psychological operations (PSYOPS), unconventional warfare (UW), and foreign internal defense (FID) to deny/diminish the threat. The first organization would be a small, cellular interagency organization composed of personnel on loan for an extended period from agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and Department of Justice (DOJ). The second organization would be a much larger entity that would work across geographic boundaries to integrate IO, PSYOPS, UW, and FID into the geographic combatant commanders' (GCC) theater security cooperation plans to shape and prevent future battlefields.