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Special Operations Forces

Report
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.
Dec 5, 2023
Report
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.
Dec 12, 2022
Report
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.
Sep 27, 2022
Report
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.
Nov 8, 2021
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
Commentary
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

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RAND Topic:
Special Operations Forces

Topic Synonyms:
Military Special Forces

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Eric Robinson

Acting Associate Director, International Security and Defense Policy Program

Eric Robinson (he/him) is an acting associate director of the International Security and Defense Policy (ISDP) Program, part of the RAND National Security Research Division, and a senior research programmer and analyst at RAND based in Washington, D.C. His research focuses primarily on special…
Ryan Haberman

Policy Analyst

Ryan Haberman is a policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, where he primarily focuses on national security strategy and government workforce issues, such as recruitment, retention, and training challenges. His current research includes seeking to better understand the military recruiting…

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