Congress must step up and wage war with limits
In a year-end conversation with reporters at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary James Mattis said he expects that some of the missions currently assigned to special forces will be conducted by general forces.
Mattis said there won’t be a new strategy memo or any kind of official change. Instead, he sees it as a gradual evolution of capabilities. Regular forces are now trained in many of the areas that once were the province of special forces exclusively. He cited drone operations as one example.
This is a change that must happen, because the particular requirements of the war on terrorism have strained U.S. special forces to the breaking point.
In May, Army General Raymond Thomas, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, told the Senate Armed Services committee that special operations forces were being deployed at a rate that was “unsustainable.” Thomas said about 8,000 U.S. special forces were deployed in more than 80 countries. In 2016, the U.S. sent special forces to 138 countries.
Thomas said the stress of “continuous combat over the past 15 and a half years” had led the command to increase mental health awareness and services. He declined to provide the senators with “morbid statistics” about suicides, saying only, “We are suffering.”
Mattis told reporters U.S. forces were working with military forces around the globe on targeting and intelligence in order to protect civilians at risk when militants stage weapons and fighters in residential neighborhoods.
Congress should make sure the U.S. Special Operations Command has the funding, the manpower and the hardware it needs.
It’s also time for the Congress to consider which involvements are truly in the national security interests of the United States and put a halt to those that aren’t.
Since the attacks of Sept. 11, American military resources, including special forces, have been deployed with few limits and constraints around the world, often without congressional authorization.
The American military and people alike are owed a more coherent strategy, with clearly defined goals and limitations, for how and when the military is used. To date, Congress has abdicated its responsibility.
— Los Angeles Daily News,
Digital First Media