NAVY SPECIAL WARFARE MISSIONS
Principal
Missions and Collateral Activities
The
enduring, overarching purposes of SOF are derived from historical experience,
Congressional legislation, and the evolving security environment. During the development of joint doctrine for
special operations, certain legislated special operations activities were
refined into the principal special operations missions. Other activities and missions frequently
assigned by geographic CINCs are grouped under the heading of “collateral
activities.” The ability to execute collateral activities stems from SOF's
inherent capabilities to conduct principal special operations missions.
SOF
may conduct several different missions and collateral activities simultaneously
in a single campaign. It is important
to note that strategic and operational requirements often cut across doctrinal
mission lines. SOF can be tasked by the
National Command Authorities (NCA) or a JFC to carry out any mission for which
it is well-suited, either because of inherent capabilities or resources, or
because it happens to be the most readily available force.
As
the world situation changes, SOF will continually evaluate the need for each
mission and will examine new and emerging missions to see if they fit within
the definition of special operations.
Principal
Special Operations Missions
Direct
Action (DA). Short-duration
strikes and other small-scale offensive actions by SOF to seize, destroy,
capture, recover, or inflict damage on designated personnel or material in
denied areas. In the conduct of these
operations, SOF may employ raid, ambush, or direct assault tactics; place mines
and other munitions; conduct standoff attacks by fire from air, ground, or
maritime platforms; provide terminal guidance for precision-guided munitions;
conduct independent sabotage; and conduct anti-ship operations. Targets have strategic or operational
significance.
Special
Reconnaissance (SR). Reconnaissance
and surveillance actions conducted by SOF to obtain or verify, by visual
observation or other collection methods, information concerning the
capabilities, intentions, and activities of an actual or potential enemy or to
secure data concerning the meteorological, hydrographic, or geographic
characteristics of a particular urban or denied area. It includes target acquisition, area
assessment, and post-strike reconnaissance in denied areas against targets of
strategic or operational significance.
Foreign
Internal Defense (FID). Participation
by U.S. civilian and military agencies in any of the action programs taken by
the host government to free and protect its society from subversion,
lawlessness, and insurgency.
Unconventional
Warfare (UW). A
broad spectrum of military and paramilitary operations, normally of long
duration, predominantly conducted by indigenous or surrogate forces who are
organized, trained, equipped, supported, and directed in varying degrees by an
external source. It includes guerrilla
warfare (GW) and other direct offensive low visibility, covert, or clandestine
operations, as well as the indirect activities of subversion, sabotage,
intelligence activities, and evasion and escape (E&E).
Combating
Terrorism (CBT). Offensive
measures taken to prevent, deter, and respond to terrorism.
Counterproliferation
(CP). Actions
taken to locate, identity, seize, destroy, render safe, transport, capture, or
recover weapons of mass destruction.
Civil
Affairs (CA). Activities
that establish, maintain, influence or exploit relations between military
forces and civil authorities, both governmental and non-governmental, and the
civilian population in a friendly, neutral, or hostile area of operations in
order to facilitate military operations and consolidate operational
objectives. Civil affairs may include
performance by military forces of activities and functions normally the
responsibility of local government.
These activities may occur prior to, during, or subsequent to other
military actions. They may also occur,
if directed, in the absence of other military operations.
Psychological
Operations (PSYOP). Planned
operations to convey selected information to influence the emotions, motives,
objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of foreign governments,
organizations, groups, and individuals.
The purpose of psychological operations is to induce or reinforce
foreign attitudes and behaviors favorable to the originator's objectives.
Information
Warfare (IW)/Command and Control Warfare (C2W). Actions taken to achieve information
superiority in support of national military strategy by affecting adversary
information or information systems while leveraging and protecting U.S.
information and information systems.
Collateral
Special Operations Activities
Enduring
missions will change infrequently, but SOF's collateral activities will shift
more readily because of the changing international environment. SOF frequently conduct the following
collateral activities:
Coalition
Support. Coalition
support improves the interaction of coalition partners and U.S. military
forces. It includes training coalition
partners in tactics and techniques, providing communications to integrate them
into the coalition command and intelligence structure, and establishing
liaison to coordinate for combat support and combat service support. Coalition Support Teams often provide the
Joint Force Commander JFC) with an accurate evaluation of the capabilities,
location, and activities of coalition forces, thus improving JFC command and
control. This entity was first employed
during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and has been critical in
subsequent multinational operations.
Past success in such operations has made it likely that coalition
support will become an important fixture in future multilateral operations.
Combat
Search and Rescue (CSAR). A
specific task performed by rescue forces to effect the recovery of distressed
personnel during wartime or contingency operations. Joint doctrine states that each service and the U.S. Special
Operations Command are responsible for performing CSAR for their respective
forces. The unique ability of SOF to
penetrate air defense systems and conduct joint air, ground, or sea operations
deep within hostile or denied territory at night or in adverse weather make
these forces highly suited for this mission.
Based on these capabilities, the JFC may task SOF to participate in
operating the Joint Search and Rescue Center (JSRC).
Counterdrug
(CD) Activities. Those
active measures taken to detect, monitor, and counter the production,
trafficking, and use of illegal drugs.
The counterdrug mission is very similar to foreign internal defense and
unconventional warfare missions. Using
their skills in cross-cultural communication, SOF train host nation counterdrug
forces on critical skills required to conduct small-unit counterdrug
operations. SOF counterdrug activities
overseas are in support of the geographic CINC's regional counterdrug campaign
plan or the U.S. ambassador's country-specific counterdrug plan. Civil affairs units support U.S. and host
nation efforts abroad by assisting in the planning, organizing and conduct of
counterdrug operations.
Countermine
(CM) Activities. Countermine
activities attempt to reduce or eliminate the threat to noncombatants and
friendly military posed by mines, booby traps, and other explosive
devices. Countermine activity consists
of demining and mine awareness. SOF,
using their language skills and organic engineering and demolitions capabilities,
train host nation forces in the location, recognition, and safe disposal of
mines and other destructive devices, as well as countermine program
management. Psychological operations
and civil affairs teams assist local governments in the development and
execution of public education programs designed to reduce risks to noncombatants
through public awareness.
Humanitarian
Assistance (HA). Programs
conducted to relieve or reduce the results of natural or manmade disasters or
other endemic conditions such as human pain, disease, hunger, or
privation that might present a serious threat to life or that can result in
great damage to or loss of property.
Humanitarian assistance provided by U.S. forces is limited in scope and
duration. The assistance provided is
designed to supplement or complement the efforts of the host nation civil
authorities or agencies that may have the primary responsibility for providing
humanitarian assistance. SOF units are
well suited to perform humanitarian assistance activities in remote areas
because of their rapid deployability, regional orientation, organic
communications, and ability to sustain operations under adverse environmental
conditions. SOF can assess the needs of
an area quickly and communicate this assessment to a JFC or ambassador to
assist in designing a plan to alleviate suffering. Civil affairs and psychological operations forces are
particularly important in organizing civilian infrastructure and encouraging
popular support of humanitarian efforts.
Participation in humanitarian assistance requires significant
interagency coordination.
Security
Assistance (SA). A
group of programs authorized by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended,
and the Arms Export Control Act of 1976, as amended, or other related statutes
by which the United States provides defense articles, military training, and
other defense-related services, by grant, loan, credit, or cash sales in
furtherance of national policies and objectives. The primary SOF role in security assistance is to provide mobile
training teams and other forms of training assistance. Personnel conducting security assistance are
prohibited by law from performing combatant duties. SOF are particularly effective in Security assistance because
they use the same regional orientation, communications, mobility, and expertise
developed for foreign internal defense and unconventional warfare
missions. Security assistance is a
particularly valued mission because SOF train themselves in skills useful in
peacetime operations while they train or otherwise assist foreign military
forces.
The
Primacy of the Mission
SOF
may be tasked by the National Command Authorities, joint force commanders, U.S.
ambassadors, or other government agencies to perform missions for which it is
the best-suited among available forces, or perhaps the only force
available. When assigned a mission by a
controlling headquarters, it becomes the focus of the assigned unit, even if
it is not a primary mission or a common collateral activity. Under these circumstances, SOF provide the
tasking commander with a candid assessment of their capabilities, limitations,
and risks associated with employment in non-traditional missions. When tasked
to conduct these missions, SOF execute with the same professionalism demanded
of primary missions. In an ideal world,
SOF would be used only in operations for which they are specially trained and
equipped. In reality, circumstances
often dictate the use of SOF for other missions.
Source:
NS310 webCT pages
