Canadian forces: commandos see expanded mission portfolio.

• Author: Jean, Grace
• Position: SPECIAL OPERATIONS

To boost its unconventional warfare capabilities, Canada is revamping its special operations military organization and emphasizing counter-terrorism skills in elite unit training programs.

"We've known for some time that there's been a void," says Col. David Barr, commander of the recently established Canadian Special Operations Forces Command.

The Canadian military has long had special operations and counter-terrorism units, such as Joint Task Force Two. But a growing demand for counterinsurgency skills and innovative tactics to cope with unconventional threats called for additional capabilities, he says. "We've needed a capability to augment our Joint Task Force Two. We did not have a stand-alone unit that had been trained specifically for that."

A major element of Canada's Special Operations Forces Command is a new regiment that will specialize in training foreign military forces and evacuating non-combatants. It will fill a role much like the U.S. Army Rangers.

"It's a good move in Canada," says Michael Vickers, director of strategic studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Having more commando teams will allow for more sustained and larger-scale operations in multiple countries, he says.

The U.S. Special Operations Command declined to comment on whether it has any plans to help its northern counterpart train the new commando teams or eventually work with them.

Vickers, a former U.S. Army special forces officer, says the regiment "will make the Canadian military more capable in places like Afghanistan and allow them to do things with the United States that they otherwise wouldn't be able to do."

The Special Operations Forces Command for the first time will unify three existing but disparate elements of the Canadian forces: the JTF2 counter-terrorism unit, the 247 Aviation Squadron and the Joint Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Company.

"We had a very capable and highly respected special operations force in Canada well before the stand-up of the Special Operations Forces Command," says Barr.

"There is an understanding that we need more special operations forces and the way to do that is ... in an integrated command, so it's...