Fighting tactics: special operators criticized for snubbing unconventional approaches.

• Author: Wagner, Breanne
• Position: SPECIAL OPERATIONS

TACOMA, Wash. -- As U.S. special operations forces undergo a shift in responsibilities and a surge in personnel, a heated debate has developed about their future priorities.

On the one hand are supporters of the "direct action" role of special operations forces to fight terrorist networks. But a growing number of experts argue that these skilled operators should be more focused on unconventional missions such as internal defense, which involves assisting and training foreign forces to fight against an insurgency.

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who believed that rooting out and killing terrorist leaders was the key to crushing the insurgency, was one of the leading advocates of direct action.

Rumsfeld put the U.S. Special Operations Command in charge of synchronizing the global war on terrorism, and he also set in motion plans to increase the size of the force.

SOCOM, meanwhile, has been criticized for giving short shrift to lower intensity, irregular warfare tactics.

"The institutional culture of SOCOM is so firmly fixed in favor of 'kicking down doors' ... that it is doubtful that any amount of outside pressure ... will change the dominant mindset very much," Max Boot, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the House Armed Services subcommittee on terrorism, unconventional threats, and capabilities.

Boot cited a retired special forces colonel who said that most of the leadership and planning staff have come from the direct action side, which has left SOCOM "unbalanced."

Direct action forces have no understanding of unconventional warfare, said Boot. "To the degree that they are starting to develop an appreciation for it, it is only as an enabler for DA operations."

Another special forces officer complained of "total U.S. SOCOM preoccupation with raiding ... and absolutely none on low intensity conflict," said Boot.

To some extent, the emphasis on direct action plays m preconceived notions about the nature of special operations.

"If I asked you ... what special operations are, what movie would you point to?" asked Wade Ishimoto, senior advisor to the assistant secretary for special operations and low intensity conflict.

In most people's minds, the question stirs up images of stealthy elite forces prowling through the night, hurling grenades over walls and heroically engaging an adversary in a fireworks sparking assault.

Ishimoto asked the question to prove just this point. Special operators enjoy a certain...