Building Competencies for Special Operations Forces’ Readiness in the Gray Zone

Special Operations Forces can be used for policy goals from long-term political influence operations, to engagements taken either to stabilize or dethrone regimes on the basis of U.S. interests. Those actions are taking place more frequently in the Gray Zone, where actors, actions, and areas of engagement merge between traditional interstate relations and nonstate challenges. Many of these contribute to a changing character of war, something that requires adaptable Special Operations Forces to support U.S. national security success. This article looks specifically at ways to ensure Special Operations Forces’ readiness in the Gray Zone across a spectrum of issues and environments. It focuses on educational techniques that rely on tried and tested categories of scholarly analysis to ensure Special Operations Forces’ adaptability in different contexts and to ensure that lessons learned can be applied to commonalities across them.