Hitting the ground with coalition SOF.(Cover story)(Company overview)

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Defeating terrorists will require not only capturing or killing today's operatives but also influencing the conditions that will impact the vulnerability of future generations to terrorist recruiting. Through careful engagement, the goal is for special-operations forces to provide nations with the tools, training and capabilities to secure their own borders and provide their own internal stability, thus helping civilized people around the work to live free from fear of terrorist attacks.

General Bryan D. "Doug" Brown (1)

Today, special-operations forces are acknowledged as accomplishing missions that are tactical in nature but having strategic impact. Over the past decade, successful operations have been conducted by coalition special-operations forces, or CSOF, in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, underlining the need to support, facilitate and expedite future CSOF operations. Current and future coalitions face difficulties, as they encompass not only so-called "traditional allies," (2) but also nontraditional SOF partners, surfacing a number of sensitive concerns, including intelligence sharing, interoperability and maintaining coalitions while balancing national interests. Moreover, the deployment of SOF into a coalition represents the strategic interests of their respective nations. Hence, coalition operations have become the crucial enabler for success in the war on terror.

To appreciate the spectrum of CSOF capabilities, this article will explore recent operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, offering recommendations on how to enhance interoperability and integration. These include "outreach" or coalition advocacy programs aimed at likely SOF partners and initiatives to facilitate the interoperability of partners in a fully integrated joint CSOF command structure.

The Threat

While terrorism was historically viewed as a criminal threat, since the attacks of 9/11, it has become the primary focus of the American national-security efforts and those of U.S. partners; terrorists are viewed as a serious and persistent threat to all nations. American and CSOF are leading the way, using their unique skills, experience, language capabilities and cultural awareness to develop personal links with the local population, thereby garnering critical intelligence, fostering all-important interpersonal relationships and forging strategically important global-coalition partnerships. (3)