{"title":"Where Eagles Err: Contemporary Geopolitics and the Future of Western Special Operations","authors":"James Horncastle, J. Maclennan","doi":"10.1080/23296151.2021.1904572","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23296151.2021.1904572","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The study of special operations forces is one where the Anglo-American experience dominates the literature. This focus on Anglo-American operations, and specifically those operations deemed successful in a conventional sense, gives a distorted view of special operations forces structures, mission profiles, and capabilities. Furthermore, the current political context is eroding the conventional operational focus of special operations. This development means special operations forces will be deployed in roles that may be inconsistent with their doctrine and training, in the process contributing particular political dynamics that reverberate back and define their role.","PeriodicalId":276818,"journal":{"name":"Special Operations Journal","volume":"70 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123812407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Special Operations Doctrine of International Organizations: An Introductory Analysis to United Nations (UN), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and European Union (EU) Approaches","authors":"Kevin D. Stringer","doi":"10.1080/23296151.2021.1907898","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23296151.2021.1907898","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The area of special operations doctrine offers a number of research avenues for exploration in order to provide broader context and understanding of special operations and special operations forces (SOF) to both scholars and practitioners. In this spirit and to add to the body of existing special operations literature, this article delivers an overview to published UN, NATO, and EU SOF doctrine and compares and analyzes these documents for similarities and differences. The exploration of the SOF doctrine of international organizations is germane to states committing SOF units to missions abroad under UN, NATO, or EU mandates. While the SOF contingents will deploy guided by national military doctrine, they will need to align their operational approach with the SOF doctrine published by the multilateral organization leading the operation. SOF deployments to Afghanistan under the auspices of NATO, to Mali under the EU, and to Sudan under the UN demonstrate the real-world necessity of doctrinal understanding for multinational SOF interoperability. The conclusion offers some thoughts to follow-on areas of SOF doctrinal research that would contribute to an increased understanding of SOF.","PeriodicalId":276818,"journal":{"name":"Special Operations Journal","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130257966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Supporting Resistance Movements in Cyberspace","authors":"Nicholas A. Bredenkamp, M. Grzegorzewski","doi":"10.1080/23296151.2021.1904570","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23296151.2021.1904570","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT One of United States Special Operations Forces’ (SOF) core missions is support to unconventional warfare (UW). As SOF continues competing with states below the level of armed conflict, it must adapt to and capitalize on advances in technology to enable support to resistance movements. Other states, namely Russia, have capitalized on digital technologies in their undeclared, hybrid conflicts. The U.S., which will likely find itself on the other side of those conflicts, must rethink and update how it supports resistance movements. We suggest why to make this change now, and in the process offer cyber-based proposals that could be employed in support to resistance","PeriodicalId":276818,"journal":{"name":"Special Operations Journal","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133067029","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Caravan: Abdallah Azzam and the Rise of Global Jihad","authors":"Tom Searle","doi":"10.1080/23296151.2021.1904338","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23296151.2021.1904338","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":276818,"journal":{"name":"Special Operations Journal","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128258694","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Competing with Great Powers through Competitive Strategy and Unconventional Warfare","authors":"Barnett S. Koven","doi":"10.1080/23296151.2021.1905227","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23296151.2021.1905227","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT As US attention shifts from counterterrorism to great power competition (GPC), the US government (USG) can no longer afford to substitute material resources for sound strategy. The USG cannot hope to outspend these state competitors by orders of magnitude. Instead, the USG must reembrace competitive strategy, which seeks to impose asymmetric costs on competitors. This approach proved successful during the Cold War, and can work in today’s more complex, multipolar operating environment. To this end, unconventional warfare (UW) offers a particularly promising approach as the relative cost to the USG versus the targets of UW activities is exceptionally low. That said, effectively employing UW in the current era of GPC requires refining the US conception of UW and developing a suitable UW operating concept. Moreover, UW is not without its risks. Indeed, there is the potential for severe, negative externalities when employing UW. This article therefore explores the potential for employing UW during GPC, with particular emphasis devoted to redefining UW for the current era, elaborating key considerations for developing a UW for GPC operating concept, and exploring both short- and long-term risks, as well as risk mitigation strategies.","PeriodicalId":276818,"journal":{"name":"Special Operations Journal","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125860816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"With the SAS-Across the Rhine: Into the Heart of Hitler’s Third Reich","authors":"Timothy Heck","doi":"10.1080/23296151.2021.1904340","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23296151.2021.1904340","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":276818,"journal":{"name":"Special Operations Journal","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130117972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From Data to Knowledge: Training of Police and Military Special Operations Forces in Systemic Perspective","authors":"Swen Koerner, Mario S. Staller","doi":"10.1080/23296151.2021.1904571","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23296151.2021.1904571","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Special operations forces regularly take part in strenuous trainings and operations. In the following article and geared toward the German situation, we identify knowledge as the central resource and challenge for furthering the development of police and military special operations forces. While the complex requirements of deployment and training create a strong need for knowledge, the reference of special operations forces to science not only provides solutions but also poses potential problems. By presenting proposals for medium- and long-term solutions for organizational knowledge management, this article provides orientation for the further development for (inter-)national special operations forces in the police and military sector.","PeriodicalId":276818,"journal":{"name":"Special Operations Journal","volume":"87 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132645289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The ISIS Reader: Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement","authors":"J. M. Long","doi":"10.1080/23296151.2021.1904344","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23296151.2021.1904344","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":276818,"journal":{"name":"Special Operations Journal","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127443268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}