By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, April 11, 2018 — U.S. special operations forces
are relevant to all the nation’s security priorities, the vice commander of
U.S. Special Operations Command told a Senate Armed Services Committee panel
today.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Scott A. Howell, representing Socom
commander Army Gen. Raymond A. Thomas III, told the committee’s emerging
threats and capabilities subcommittee that the nearly 3,000 special operations
forces members are deployed in more than 90 countries, and are postured, ready
and relentlessly focused on winning today’s fights.
Also testifying on efforts to transform the force for future
security challenges were Air Force Lt. Gen. Marshall B. Webb, commander of Air
Force Special Operations Command; Army Lt. Gen. Kenneth E. Tovo, commanding
general of Army Special Operations Command; Navy Rear Adm. Timothy G.
Szymanski, commander of Naval Special Warfare Command; and Marine Corps Maj.
Gen. Carl E. Mundy III, commander of Marine Corps Forces Special Operations
Command.
Rapidly Changing Environment
“From countering violent extremism to countering weapons of
mass destruction from rogue regimes and near-peer adversaries, special
operations forces continue to provide the geographic combatant commanders
options to protect our nation, our allies and our interests worldwide,” Howell
said. “However, as the National Defense Strategy outlines, the global security
environment is rapidly changing,” he added.
Correspondingly, Socom is transforming at an ever increasing
pace, Howell noted.
“Comprising just 2 percent of the defense budget and 3
percent of the manpower, special operations forces play a critical role in
addressing the nation's priorities, security challenges and provide an
extraordinary return on investment,” he said.
Air Force
“As the United States Special Operations Command’s air
component, we continuously strive to hone capabilities and evolve our force to
remain ready, relevant and resilient,” Webb told the panel. He also expressed
gratitude for the resources projected in the fiscal year 2019 budget, which he
said will fully fund existing requirements and help the service “turn a
strategic corner as we engage in great powers competition.”
For 17 years, AFSOC has been laser-focused on
counterterrorism operations, he noted, adding it has accelerated the operations
tempo and “drawn reference toward the low end” of the conflict spectrum. “We
realize these efforts are predominately long-term engagements, in which
cumulative tactical effects lead to long term strategic impact,” he said,
“[and] to make such engagements successful, [we] must lower the resource and
opportunity costs of conducting persistent counterterrorism operations.”
Conversely, AFSOC operations on the high end predominantly
deliver strategic impact in a short amount of time, he said, adding the command
must be capable and flexible to confront competitors across a range of
potential conflicts and area.
“We must develop a force that is more lethal and resilient
in contested environments,” Webb said. “This brings me to [the command’s] first
priority, readiness: AFSOC must build full-spectrum readiness while ensuring
that we are postured the fight tonight.”
Air Force special operations forces remain postured to
deter, compete and win against strategic competitors, Webb said. “Our second
priority, relevance, [is] to meet the challenges enumerated in the National
Defense Strategy, [and] AFSOC must cultivate a balanced force for high-end and
low-end conflict by investing in new capabilities while leveraging current
capabilities in innovative ways,” he told the Senate panel. That strategy aims
to balance and expand the command’s relevance across the spectrum of conflict
to deter, and if necessary, defeat America's adversaries, he said.
AFSOC embraces the process of innovation from within its
formation, striving toward a balance of incremental and transformational
efforts that are cost-effective and extend strategic purpose, Webb emphasized.
The third priority is resilience. “What defines AFSOC is not
technology or platforms,” the Air Force commander said. “Rather, we are defined
by our people -- active duty, Guard, reserves and civilians alike -- and their
relentless application of our ethos and strategic values.”
Army
Tovo addressed the existing and emerging range of threats
the nation faces, telling the senators that from macro levels, the nation’s
threats can be put into two categories.
“First, violent extremist organizations that threaten the
homeland and other strategic interests, and second, those peer-and-near
adversaries who seek to undermine our global influence and overturn the current
international order that preserves our prosperity,” he explained.
“The counter-VEO fight has monopolized our global efforts
for over 16 years; however, it is clear that competing nations such as Russia,
China, North Korea and Iran will continue to challenge the current
international security order to see greater regional -- and in some cases,
global -- influence,” Tovo said.
Army Special Operations Command is sustaining the fight to
counter violent extremist organizations while building readiness for
peer-and-near threats by investing in three major efforts, the general said.
“First, we are in the midst of a multiyear effort to restore
balance to the force with the aim of improving the health of the force, and
providing additional time to train against a broader set of tasks that must be
mastered to address peer adversaries,” he said.
“Second, we have made significant investments in the
intellectual space to ensure that we understand the implications of changes in
the security environment, and that we find ways to maintain an enduring
competitive advantage over our nation’s adversaries,” Tovo noted.
“Third, the command published strategic guidance using
[required to move ASOC from the force of today to the force that the nation
will need in the future,” he said.
Navy
Szymanski told the senators that the first special
operations forces truth -- that humans are more important than hardware --
remains their guiding principle.
“We have the best weapons and technology, but our primary
weapon systems are now, and always have been, our operators,” he said. “We
select and train to sustain men and women of character who are mature, highly
skilled, culturally attuned and entrusted to execute our nation's most
sensitive missions. It’s precisely because of what we ask our people to do,
operation after operation, that we never lose focus on their long-term health.”
Following nearly 17 years of operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan, the admiral said, the United States is focused on strengthening
Naval Special Warfare Command capabilities as the maritime component to special
operations. “We are making progress modernizing our maritime mobility platforms
that can operate effectively in contested environments,” he added.
Marine Corps
While the Marine Corps’ special operations tempo is high, it
is manageable, Mundy told the panel. “We continue to benefit from [the Marine
Corps Forces Special Operations Command’s] Preservation of Force and Families
Program as a critical tool to maintain the health of our force.”
People, not technology or any other particular capability,
represent the Marine Corps’ special operations force’s most precious resource,
he said, and that is something the Corps must preserve and cultivate as its
forces look to the future.
Mundy said his four priorities reflect commitment to the
command’s people and to the requirement to develop for the future; to provide
an integrated full-spectrum special operations force, to better integrate the
special operations capabilities with the Marine Corps’ air-ground teams, to develop
the command’s future force, and to preserve the force and their families
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