SpecOps doing more with less
Kristina Wong writes in the Washington Times that despite having their budget slashed, like the rest of the military, the Obama Administration continues to lean on the successes of Special Operations forces in the global war on terrorism.
The command’s fiscal 2013 budget request is $10.4 billion – essentially the same as its current budget. In 2011, its budget was $12.1 billion.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said last month that as U.S. troops gradually withdraw from the war in Afghanistan, there will be “more opportunities for special operations forces to assist and advise our partners in other regions.”
“There is some concern that the SOF community is not going to be robust enough to maintain these high-demand operations indefinitely,” said retired Lt. Gen. David Barno, a former Army Ranger and former commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.
In a Feb. 14 Foreign Policy article titled “SOF Power,” Gen. Barno said the Obama administration has not adequately addressed important questions about the impact on the culture of special operations forces.
Not exactly surprising since this Administration seems to think that everything remains constant and that their policies have no effect on outcomes. But what can we expect, really, when this is a “Bite Me” Biden policy. Joe Biden has been absolutely wrong on everything in the history of his service in government, so why is anyone surprised that this bit of Biden strategy is doomed?
Special Operations isn’t a cost cutting strategy, it’s one tool in the bag.
Category: Terror War
To be fair to the Poobah of Gaffes, Biden’s ‘policy’ is merely an extension of the debate being held in many circles military strategy….that of counter-insurgency/population-centric operations versus counter-terrorism/enemy-centric operations.
In either case, SOF needs to maintain a robust posture; in one of the cases, they become the main effort.
Army Special Forces are expensive. But the “bang for the buck” premise keeps them downrange. When you hear the phrase “no combat troops” (Obamaism), think again. The shell game now is that Special Forces are not counted as combat troops but as Special Operation Forces and conveniently left off the books during briefings. Slashing their budget is not new. Been here, seen it and experienced it many times. Time will tell. Why do we always repeat the mistakes of the past?