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Special Operations Forces

Brochure

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.

Oct 7, 2021
Journal Article

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.

Apr 30, 2021
Testimony

Special Operations Forces Culture and Climate

What the nation asks of its special operations forces shapes who they are and what they do. Two decades of counterterrorism focus have led to an unbalanced and overused force. How can policymakers and military leaders rebalance the force to meet changing demands and address systemic issues such as its lack of diversity?

Mar 26, 2021
Journal Article

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.

Feb 19, 2021
Report

Why America Fails in Irregular Warfare

A memoir drawn from four decades of experience in the U.S. Army explores the strengths and limitations of America's irregular warfare capability. The author, who often saw success at the tactical level only to be followed by strategic muddling and eventual failure, offers ideas on how to develop a world-class way of irregular war.

Jul 29, 2020
Blog

Artificial Intelligence Bias, Russia, Fentanyl: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on bias in algorithms, Russia's limits in the Middle East, understanding the fentanyl crisis, and more.

Nov 29, 2019
Report

How to Measure the Effectiveness of Special Operations

How can Army special operations missions be assessed? A new methodology relies on operational, intelligence, and publicly available data, since operational-level special operations commands often lack the staff and resources to generate assessment-level information.

Nov 13, 2019
Research Brief

The Growing Need to Focus on Modern Political Warfare

RAND researchers analyzed how political warfare is practiced today and identified ways that the U.S. government, its allies, and its partners can respond to or engage in this type of conflict to achieve U.S. ends and protect U.S. interests.

May 31, 2019
News Release

Unconventional Approaches Could Help Deter Russian Intimidation and Aggression Against the Baltic States

Amid concerns that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are vulnerable to Russian intimidation and hybrid warfare, a new RAND Corporation report concludes that unconventional defense plans could help deter and counteract Russian aggression.

Apr 15, 2019
Report

Deterring Russian Aggression in the Baltic States

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are vulnerable to low-level, hybrid, and full-scale attacks by Russian forces. Which unconventional strategies could they use to deter aggression and buy time for conventional military responses? And how can NATO allies help develop and fund these efforts?

Apr 15, 2019
Report

Culture and Competition Among the U.S. Military Services

The personalities of U.S. military services are alive and well. Their unique cultures impact how they compete for resources, authorities, access, and influence. And their competition on the bureaucratic battlefield changes as the environment changes. How might the services react to a sudden change in resource levels or region of focus?

Feb 25, 2019
Report

Assessing Retention and Special and Incentive Pays for Army and Navy Commissioned Officers in the Special Operations Forces

This report focuses on the effectiveness of monetary incentives, known as special and incentive pays, for U.S. Special Operations Forces commissioned officer retention.

Feb 18, 2019
Report

Training Success for U.S. Air Force Special Operations and Combat Support Specialties: An Analysis of Recruiting, Screening, and Development Processes

This report addresses challenges for implementing new approaches to Air Force high-demand, high-attrition specialty recruiting, screening, and development processes, and takes a holistic approach to identifying methods to fill gaps in processes.

May 15, 2018
News Release

RAND Study Examines Ways U.S. Can Better Counter Political Warfare

The United States needs to improve the ways it combats adversaries adept at using political warfare tactics to achieve their goals and undermine U.S. interests and allies.

Apr 5, 2018
Report

Countering Modern Political Warfare

Both state and nonstate actors—including Russia, Iran, and ISIS—practice political warfare in unique ways. How can the United States, along with its allies and partners, respond to or engage in this type of conflict to protect U.S. interests?

Apr 5, 2018
Report

Limited Intervention: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Limited Stabilization, Limited Strike, and Containment Operations

The report analyzes the strategic effects of low-cost and small-footprint military options across a range of irregular warfare operations and in a range of operational environments.

Feb 22, 2018
Report

Improving the Understanding of Special Operations

An analysis of U.S. decisions related to the development or use of special operations forces can assist in future planning by the Army Special Operations Forces, the U.S. Army, and the joint special operations community.

Feb 8, 2018
Report

How Russia's Military Has Evolved

The Russian armed forces are not like the Soviet Army in size, depth, or global ideological aspirations. But Russia has demonstrated its military competence and operational flexibility in Crimea, eastern Ukraine, and Syria.

Dec 7, 2017
Report

Supporting Persistent and Networked Special Operations Forces (SOF) Operations: Insights from Forward-Deployed SOF Personnel

RAND Corporation researchers identified three key operational challenges that forward-deployed personnel have encountered and then assessed the extent to which persistent, networked, and distributed operations can mitigate these challenges.

Oct 16, 2017
Report

Implications of the Security Cooperation Office Transition in Afghanistan for Special Operations Forces: An Abbreviated Report of the Study's Primary Findings

Presents findings from six historical case studies in which the mission of special operations forces in each of the six countries transitioned over time to include some level of inclusion in the U.S. embassy's Security Cooperation Office.

Aug 1, 2017

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RAND Topic:
Special Operations Forces

Topic Synonyms:
Military Special Forces

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