GlobalSecurity.org In the News

AMERICA PREPARES REGIONAL CHALLENGES;
STRATEGY EXPECTED TO FOCUS ON ELITE US 'SPECIAL FORCES'

By Robert Schlesinger

WASHINGTON - As the Bush administration carves out plans for prosecuting the war on terrorism, signals are emerging that the military's Special Operations forces will play a crucial role.

On Thursday, President Bush told the nation that there will be operations that will remain "secret even in success." Army Secretary Thomas E. White commented that day that "we have a very strong Special Ops capability in the Army, and I am sure that this campaign will involve them."

Many military specialists believe these elite fighting units, who call themselves the "quiet professionals," are perfectly suited for a battle against an enemy that works in the shadows. "Our special forces are precisely the kind of troops you would want for a war on terrorism," said Dan Goure, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute in Virginia. "They are superbly trained, equipped many times with unique weapons appropriate to the kind of operations we plan. They have experience in many cases in the regions we're talking about. . . . And they have been practicing often the kind of missions we're talking about here."

Bill Clinton recently confirmed that he had authorized a plan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, and the Globe reported on Sept. 15 that special forces commandos have for several years been training for missions to Afghanistan.

The term "Special Forces" refers to several different outfits spread among three of the armed services and has a troop strength of 45,000 to 50,000.

The 75th Ranger Regiment, which consists of three battalions, headquartered at Hunter Army Airfield and Fort Benning in Georgia, and at Fort Lewis in Washington. The Army says that they can be deployed anywhere in the world with 18 hours' notice. Their missions include raids and securing positions, which might include abandoned Soviet airfields in northern Afghanistan.

Army Special Operations Forces, commonly known as the Green Berets. Their missions include various forms of unconventional warfare and working with and training local militia and guerrilla units.

Delta Force, the super-secret counterterrorist squad whose existence is not even acknowledged by the Army. They are reported to include the elites from other special forces units. Their training lies in quick-strike operations designed to rescue hostages, or, in some cases, capture enemies. Any attempt to capture bin Laden or his lieutenants would probably be spearheaded by the Deltas.

Other Army special forces include Special Operations Aviation, Psychological Operations, Civil Affairs, and Signal and Combat Service Support units.

Navy Special Warfare Command, which includes the roughly 2,200 elite SEALS (Sea, Air, and Land), has a total of roughly 5,000 active-duty personnel. The two main groups are based in San Diego and Norfolk, Va.

Air Force Special Operations Command, with approximately 12,500 active-duty Reserve, Guard, and civilian personnel, are headquartered at Hurlbut Field in Florida, but also has units stationed at RAF Mildenhall in England, and Kadena Air Base on Okinawa. Their missions vary from search and rescue of downed pilots to helicopter-based close-air support of ground troops.

All the various special forces units are under a single unified command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. Special forces units have been involved in many of the conflicts the United States has engaged in in the last decade, including the Gulf War and Kosovo operations. This year, Congress has increased their funding to $4 billion from $3.3 billion last year; they will also receive some of the $40 billion in supplemental spending that Congress has approved.

But some specialists are skeptical of how well the special forces units would perform in Afghanistan.

Edward Luttwak, a military specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that while the units are very well trained, they are hampered by a reluctance on the part of US military leaders to commit them to action.

"In spite of their fantastic equipment and elaborate training, they have no operational experience. This was shown in Somalia," Luttwak said, referring to an encounter in 1993 in which 18 special operations soldiers were killed in a botched raid in Mogadishu. Along with the failed attempt in 1980 to rescue US hostages in Iran, it is the highest-profile special forces failure.

"Presumably, all the various mistakes in Somalia will not be repeated here," said John Pike of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense and intelligence policy organization. "But rather, new mistakes will be made."