Special forces

4 key differences between the Green Berets and Delta Force

The Army’s 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta — or “Delta Force” or CAG (for Combat Applications Group) or whatever its latest code name might be — is one of the best door kicking-units in the world.

From raining hell on al Qaeda in the early days of the war in Afghanistan to going after the “deck of cards” in Iraq, the super-secretive counterterrorism unit knows how to dispatch America’s top targets.

But during the wars after 9/11, Delta’s brethren in the Army Special Forces were tasked with many similar missions, going after top targets and kicking in a few doors for themselves. And Delta has a lot of former Special Forces soldiers in its ranks, so their cultures became even more closely aligned.

Special forces

America’s New Special Operations Commander Wants to Predict the Future

The future of SOCOM is a command transformed, almost, into a quasi-intelligence agency. “We are very, very kinetic right now; very direct action because we are trying to rectify five failed states and an extremist phenomenon that’s gone rabid. Once we get that back in the box, eventually, I hope, we can have the right sort of access, placement, connective tissue, to retain stability.”

He acknowledged that getting into a more predictive stance would mean special operators spending more time deployed to places where there is no ‘hot fight’ but where tensions might be brewing or circumstances developing to nurture new threats. A more permanent SOF presence in more places is “not our inclination. In most cases, it’s to bring the boys back home. It’s ‘come on, let’s get back out of this thing.’ Arguably, you do that at your great peril.”

One key to a more anticipatory special operations force is a “transregional assessment process,” which looks at threats beyond their geographic features, where the threat is based, to a more comprehensive understanding of the threat, it’s underlying environmental, economic, social, and political tensions.

Special forces

UK Special Forces: Accountability in Shadow War

Last November the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced plans to spend an additional £2 billion over the next five years on new weapons, vehicles and other equipment for the UK’s Special Forces. While it was reported that this would not result in an increase in personnel numbers for the Special Air Service (SAS) and the Special Boat Service (SBS), it is probable that there will be increases in the numbers in various support groups. The announcement came at a time of substantially increased activity for UK Special Forces, including reports of operations in Iraq, Syria and Libya, with these seen as important elements in the UK’s contribution to the coalition against the so-called Islamic State (IS).

This does, though, raise the issue of the accountability of an increasingly significant element of the UK’s defence posture given the policy of successive governments to minimise public debate. This policy even extends to a lack of parliamentary accountability in most circumstances. In this context, the briefing provides a short introduction to the UK Special Forces and raises issues that stem from the secrecy which surrounds their use.

Special forces

SECRET WARFARE

While the U.S. military is barred by law from providing aid to foreign security forces that violate human rights, JCETs have been repeatedly conducted in Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Chad and many other nations regularly cited for abuses by the Department of State. Under the so-called “Leahy Law,” a vetting process is meant to weed out foreign troops or units implicated in “gross human rights violations” — including extrajudicial killing, forced disappearances, and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. 

Special forces

The secret history of US navy’s SEAL Team 6

They have plotted deadly missions from secret bases in the badlands of Somalia. In Afghanistan, they have engaged in combat so intimate that they have emerged soaked in blood that was not their own. On clandestine raids in the dead of the night, their weapons of choice have ranged from customized carbines to primeval tomahawks.