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Special Operations Forces

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Report

Sep 26, 2024

Recruiting for U.S. Air Force Special Warfare: A Review of Practices and Recommended Courses of Action

Finding potential recruits who are both qualified and motivated for demanding U.S. Air Force Special Warfare (AFSPECWAR) careers is particularly challenging. The report authors identify ways to improve AFSPECWAR recruiting practices.
Report

Sep 9, 2024

Assessment and Selection for U.S. Air Force Special Warfare: Vol. 2, Evaluating Objectives and Considering Improvements

Air Force Special Warfare (AFSPECWAR) prioritizes rigorous assessment and selection to ensure operators possess the qualities needed for demanding missions. The authors evaluate the effectiveness of AFSPECWAR's process and recommend best practices.
Report

Dec 5, 2023

Strategic Disruption by Special Operations Forces: A Concept for Proactive Campaigning Short of Traditional War

RAND researchers develop a new concept for strategic disruption by special operations forces, exploring how disruptive campaigns can frustrate an adversary’s preferred strategy and enable friendly gains across multiple instruments of national power.
Report

Dec 12, 2022

Authorities and Permissions to Conduct Army Special Operations Activities Abroad

This report outlines the basic types of authorities that govern the use of Army Special Operations Forces overseas in environments below the threshold of armed conflict.
Report

Sep 27, 2022

Assessment and Selection for U.S. Air Force Special Warfare: Vol. 1, Defining Attributes and Designing Rater Training

Air Force Special Warfare warrants specialized assessment and selection of future operators. The authors examine the nontechnical attributes needed to conduct challenging missions and the process for selecting candidates who can succeed.
Report

Nov 8, 2021

Countering Russia: The Role of Special Operations Forces in Strategic Competition

This report establishes a strategic framework for U.S. Army special operations forces support to countering Russian activities in the competition space.
Brochure

Oct 7, 2021

Select RAND Research on Counterinsurgency, Stability Operations, Support to Foreign Internal Defense, Nation-Building, and Special Operations: 1962-2019

This volume is an important resource for those interested in gaining an informed understanding of a persistent, though usually low-level, military threat to U.S. security.
Journal Article

Apr 30, 2021

The Missing, Irregular Half of Great Power Competition

The U.S. military must learn to embrace a new framework for understanding competition through the lens of its current approaches to traditional and irregular warfare.
Testimony

Mar 26, 2021

Special Operations Forces Culture and Climate: The Future of the Force

Testimony presented before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations on March 26, 2021.
Journal Article

Feb 19, 2021

The Evolution of Special Operations as a Model for Information Forces

This article draws an analogy between special operations and information forces and suggests the history and evolution of SOF could serve as a model and provide lessons for the development of information forces.
Commentary

Jul 29, 2020

The American Way of Irregular War: An Analytical Memoir

The United States has failed to achieve strategic objectives in nearly every military campaign since Vietnam. This memoir describes how the United States can begin to build the American way of irregular war needed for success in modern conflict.
Report

Nov 13, 2019

Measuring the Effectiveness of Special Operations

How can the success (or failure) of Army special operations missions be assessed? The authors develop a methodology for doing so and illustrate the process through a fictional scenario.

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