Special Operations and COIN

The SOF Chair at Marine Corps University, LTC Mike Lewis, USA, and  fellow author in the Victory Among People book, has offered the SOF viewpoint to those already collected on the blog. Thus far we have examined a range of issues in the current fight from a Battalion S-2 perspective, to an assessment of Strategic Intelligence in Afghanistan, to assessments from both Gen Flynn and Gen McChrystal on the challenge of understanding the fight and new organisational models for fighting a network.

In SPECIAL OPERATIONS AND INSTABILITY: A MILITARY INVESTMENT STRATEGY LTC Lewis explores the roles of SOF and what it offers the US in a resource constrained environment.
"The US military, by capitalizing on expeditionary capability, organic security resources and international relationships, continues to play a significant role in countering instability and building capacity. From a cost-benefit perspective, the large-scale counter-insurgency commitments undertaken by the US in the twenty-first century have failed to significantly advance the counter-terrorism agenda, and have challenged the viability of full-scale counter-insurgency as an affordable method for mitigating threats to national security.  Special operations forces, with highly developed skills and a focus on long-term engagement, provide a contemporary solution with a strong historical record."