SUPPORTING THE GLOBAL SPECIAL OPERATIONS NETWORK

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

New Authority Supports Global Special Operations Network
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

TAMPA, Fla., May 15, 2013 - A new arrangement that gives U.S. Special Operations Command responsibility for manning, training and equipping special operators assigned to regional combatant commands is beginning to pay off in strengthening the global special operations force network, the Socom commander reported here yesterday.

Navy Adm. William H. McRaven told attendees at the 2013 Special Operations Forces Industry Conference that the new command structure amends a shortcoming that had left Socom with "no institutional relationship" with regional special operations commanders.

Then-Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta approved the change in February. "In essence, now U.S. Special Operations Command has authority over all special operations [forces]," McRaven said, including those assigned to U.S. European Command, U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. Central Command, U.S. Southern Command and U.S. Africa Command.

This authority also will extend to U.S. Northern Command, which is standing up its own special operations element.

A key part of the arrangement, McRaven said, is that these special operators and their regional special operations commanders will remain under the operational control of their respective geographic combatant commander.

"That is very important," he said, emphasizing that geographic commanders will determine what missions special operators conduct within their areas of responsibility.

"We will not do anything," McRaven said, repeating it for emphasis, "without the approval -- underline that -- of a geographic commander and the chief of mission [or] ambassador."

The admiral elaborated on the arrangement during his testimony before the House and Senate armed services committees in March.

"As the Socom commander, with some unique exceptions, I do not command and control any forces in combat or crisis," he said. "I am a 'supporting commander' to geographic combatant commanders and the chiefs of mission.

"It is my job to provide them the best special operations force in the world," he continued. "It is their job to employ those forces in support of U.S. policy."

Yesterday, McRaven told the forum of special operators and defense contractors he advocated the change of authority to better support theater special operations commanders and their assigned forces.

"I want to be held responsible for the manning, training, equipping and resourcing of the theater special operations commanders," McRaven said. That way, he said, if a theater special operations commander doesn't have the best talent or isn't well resourced, there's no question about who should be held accountable.

"The answer ought to be, 'You come here to Socom because we are now responsible for it,'" he said. "It really is about, 'How do we better support those theater special operations commanders?'"

Special Operations Command already is making good on its new responsibility.

Army Brig. Gen. Sean P. Mulholland, commander of Special Operations Command South, reported that his command, long stretched for manpower and resources, is slated to triple in size over the next few years. Meanwhile, the funding lines will start to shift based on McRaven's emphasis on bolstering the theater special operations commanders, he said.

Navy Rear Adm. Brian L. Losey, commander of Special Operations Command Africa, reported that his command has received additional funding for technical requirements, as well as temporary augmentees from the Socom staff. The new command arrangement "is absolutely empowering" the theater special operations commanders, he said.

But there's an additional benefit in the communication links the new command relationship allows. McRaven now conducts weekly videoconferences with all of his theater special operations commanders, encouraging them to share information about their activities and challenges.

"Before long, we begin to knit together the global problems that we are seeing," he said. "And we are passing information [among the theater special operations commanders] that is the beginning of enhancing this global [special operations force] network."

EUCOM CHIEF SAYS EUROPEAN COMMAND STILL IMPOTANT TO U.S. INTERESTS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Eucom Chief: NATO, European Partners Remain Critical
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2013 - The commander of U.S. European Command emphasized to Congress today the importance of the region to future U.S. interests.

Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, who also serves as NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the importance of maintaining U.S. connections in Europe.

"I think that, as I look at the challenges for U.S. European Command, where I am focused at the moment is, first and foremost, our work in and around Europe," he said.

This includes the NATO missile defense system that is coming online, Stavridis said.

"We are, of course, monitoring the situation in the Levant extremely closely," he said. "It's very close at hand to Europe, and part of U.S. European Command's responsibility includes military-to-military relations with Israel. So we watch that area very closely."

Stavridis mentioned other countries that fall within his area of responsibility that aren't as frequently discussed.

"We don't talk as much about areas like the Balkans, the Caucusus, the Baltics," he noted. "All of those remain extremely important as well, and ... there are a wide variety of other issues, from special operations to humanitarian, disasters, countering terrorism, organized crime [and] cyber. So it's a very rich agenda."

The admiral said if he had one overriding message for the committee, he'd like to answer the question, 'Why Europe?'"

"Why should we continue to be engaged in Europe?" Stavridis asked. "What's important about this part of the mission for the Department of Defense? I would say very quickly that, first and foremost, it's the values that we share with this pool of partners in Europe, democracies who stand with us on freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press.

"Secondly, it's the economic bonds that bind us together," Stavridis continued. "The United States represents about a fourth of the world's gross domestic product. The nations of Europe represent another fourth."

NATO, he added, cumulatively is about 50 percent of the world's gross domestic product. "So I think that trans-Atlantic connection has an important economic component as well," he said.

The admiral said his third reason for the U.S. staying connected with its European partners is that "geography matters."

"People say to me, 'Why do we need bases in Europe? They're just bastions of the Cold War,'" Stavridis said. "I would counter by saying that they're not. They're forward operating bases in the 21st century. And they allow us to extend support from Eucom to [U.S. Africa Command], to [U.S. Central Command] and the Levant area as well."

To put perspective on it, Stavridis said, about 20 or so years ago, during the Cold War, the United States had 450,000 troops in Europe on 1,200 bases.

"We've come down 85 percent since then," he said. "So we have taken a great deal of infrastructure out of Europe."

Stavridis said the U.S. conceivably could, over time, draw down a bit further. "I feel we're positioned about right for the moment in time in which we find ourselves," he said. "But I believe that downward trajectory over time will probably continue."

The admiral said the NATO alliance is another reason for maintaining European connections. "We serve together around the world in a wide variety of missions that we can talk about this morning," Stavridis said, adding that nowhere else in the world offers such a complete and capable group of allies who have the technology, training and force levels to help the United States.

"We need to encourage our European partners to spend more on defense," Stavridis said. "I do that consistently."