U.S Special Operations Commander Demands That The Pentagon And The White House Stop Disclosing Mission Details

Commanding General of U.S. Special Operations Command Gen. Joseph Votel. Army.mil

Washington Free Beacon: Special Ops Commander Demands Pentagon Stop Exposing Operations

Gen. Joseph Votel: Publicity makes it harder for forces to do their jobs.

President Obama’s nominee to head U.S. Central Command recently penned a memo to Defense Secretary Ash Carter demanding that the Pentagon stop discussing the operations of elite American troops.

Foreign Policy, which obtained an excerpt of the memo, reported that Gen. Joseph Votel, currently the chief of U.S. Special Operations Command, wrote the December 8 memo to express concern about the Obama administration’s exposure of special operations forces’ activities.

“I am concerned with increased public exposure of SOF activities and operations, and I assess that it is time to get our forces back into the shadows,” Votel wrote to Carter.

While it remains unclear to what public comments Votel was referring, the memo was sent just days after the White House revealed that it was sending approximately 200 special operations forces to Iraq to combat ISIS.

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Update: Special Ops cmdr. demands White House stop disclosing mission details (Washington Times)

WNU Editor: I expect the Pentagon will listen ... but will the White House? I have my doubts.

The Pentagon Has A Long History Of Organizing Manhunts To Snare Top Enemy Leaders And Terrorists

Sean Naylor, Defense One/The Atlantic: Inside the Pentagon’s Manhunting Machine

A brief history of Joint Special Operations Command, from Panama to the war on terror

At the cutting edge of the U.S. military’s campaigns against al-Qaeda and its offshoots over the past 14 years has been an organization still unused to the spotlight. Born from the wreckage of the United States’s failed attempt to rescue its hostages in Iran in 1980, Joint Special Operations Command was created to provide a standing headquarters that could run similar operations in the future. But although JSOC (pronounced “jay-sock”) had grown significantly in its first two decades, on September 11, 2001, it remained a fringe presence on the U.S. military scene, with a narrowly circumscribed set of responsibilities that included short-term counterterrorist missions, operations to secure weapons of mass destruction, and very little else.

WNU Editor: An excellent summary/analysis on how the Pentagon successfully developed its ability to conduct manhunts to track and capture/kill specific targets.

Special Ops Commander: U.S. Special Operations Forces Are Engaged In More Than 100 Countries

Photo: U.S. Adm. William McRaven, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command, speaks to special operations commanders during a commander's call on Hurlburt Field, Fla., on Jan. 30, 2012. Christopher Williams/Courtesy U.S. Air Force

Special Ops Forces Create “Visible and Dramatic Effects” -- Secrecy News

U.S. special operations forces are engaged in “more than 100 countries worldwide,” said Adm. William H. McRaven, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday.

“In significant ways, our forces are creating visible and dramatic effects of the greatest magnitude across the globe,” Adm. McRaven said in the 2012 US SOCOM posture statement.

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My Comment: I know that US special forces are engaged in a large number of countries .... but 100+. This is a staggering number, and one that is not often publicized. In fact .... there has been no public debate or discussion on the specific role that Special Forces will play in U.S. national security, no detailed public debate on it's mandate, and no discussion on long term strategy.

The Rise Of Western Covert Ops

Analysis - The Rise And Rise Of Western Covert Ops -- Reuters

Four months ago, Admiral William McRaven commanded the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. Now, as the new head of U.S. special forces, he argues that his shadowy, secretive warriors are increasingly central to how America and its allies fight.

When the suntanned, towering SEAL testified to the Congressional House Armed Services Committee in September, just a few weeks after he took over his new role, he used posters detailing the growth of his forces. In the decade since September 11 2001, U.S. Special Operations Command personnel numbers have doubled, its budget tripled and deployments quadrupled.

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My Comment: The following sentence sums up the growth of special forces ....

.... since September 11 2001, U.S. Special Operations Command personnel numbers have doubled, its budget tripled and deployments quadrupled.

Can this be sustained .... can it succeed .... only time will tell, but for politicians .... sending special forces to a trouble spot costs less, results in less body bags, and blow-back is (we hope) minimized.

A Look At The Military’s Joint Special Operations Command

‘Top Secret America’: A Look At The Military’s Joint Special Operations Command -- Washington Post

The CIA’s armed drones and paramilitary forces have killed dozens of al-Qaeda leaders and thousands of its foot soldiers. But there is another mysterious organization that has killed even more of America’s enemies in the decade since the 9/11 attacks.

CIA operatives have imprisoned and interrogated nearly 100 suspected terrorists in their former secret prisons around the world, but troops from this other secret organization have imprisoned and interrogated 10 times as many, holding them in jails that it alone controls in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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My Comment: The graphical interface is a must see .... the link to that part of the story is here.