Developing and assessing options for the global SOF network

A global posture for SOF -- Small footprints and low-level presence -- Responsiveness -- Capacity-building -- Authorities to enable the global SOF network vision -- Conclusion : building trust, building capacity, building partners

The January 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance calls for small-footprint, low-cost approaches where possible in ensuring U.S. security in a 21st-century world of transnational threats. In response, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has developed and put forth its Global SOF Network vision, which calls for a distributed overseas posture for Special Operations Forces (SOF) as part of a new approach based on creating a structure that responds more effectively to emerging threats and deters future ones. USSOCOM posits that increasing SOF forward presence and creating these networks will deepen existing partnerships as well as provide new ones. This, in turn, will provide greater insight regarding conditions on the ground, shape the environment more effectively, and better enable local SOF partners to meet security threats. Building and employing a global SOF network and strengthening partners forms the core of the Global SOF Network vision. USSOCOM asked RAND to develop options for implementing the vision by creating and then applying an analytically rigorous methodology, and to investigate whether changes to command and control arrangements or Department of Defense funding and budgeting processes might be needed for its effective execution