Publisher's Synopsis
This is a selection of top essays in the 2015 annual essay contest sponsored by the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) partnered with the Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC) Chapter of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Contents: Assistance Beyond Luck: Synchronizing Engagements in the Global SOF Network; Harnessing the Human Domain in Warfare; The First Women in SOF: Women Operatives in the OSS and SOE as a Framework for the Modern Enabler; Training the Police Forces of a Fragile State; SOF and the Regionally-Aligned Force; Special Operations Forces and the Professionalization of Foreign Internal Defense. In order to better achieve synchronization of persistent SOF engagements capable of leveraging partner SOF in an expeditionary manner, USSOCOM must revise the special operations liaison officer (SOLO) program. This essay builds upon previous concepts, such as the Volckmann Program proposed in 2011 by then Colonel Eric P. Wendt, as well as recent recommendations made in "Special Operations Liaison Officer: Looking Back To See The Future."1 The concept proposed here goes beyond these previous recommendations as it argues for the creation of a regionally aligned, specially trained, SOF liaison program under USSOCOM management. This new concept essentially transforms the SOLO program into a special operations liaison team (SOLT). The SOLT concept would encompass the selection, training, and employment of mid-career special operators from each of the four services to work directly with partner-nation SOF under the Office of Security Cooperation as part of the U.S. country teams. The SOLT would be composed of mid-grade to senior SOF noncommissioned officers, warrant officers, and officers who have completed key developmental jobs in a particular region. SOLT members would be selected for their advanced regional expertise and would receive specialized training in security assistance and security cooperation programs and military advising, prior to their employment. They could be deployed individually or in small, two- to four-operator elements.
