EVALUATING DENIED AREAS: IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIAL OPERATIONS

Abstract

The U.S. Army’s transition from the Global War on Terror to a focus on inter-state large scale combat and the concurrent transition to the Multi Domain Operations Concept has driven the need to re-examine Special Operations Forces’ (SOF’s) role(s) in future wars. Specifically, how will SOF operate in the Extended Deep Areas, otherwise known as denied areas, and how they can better understand and assess those spaces to enable operational success? This paper examines U.S. Joint and Army doctrine, military, and surveillance technologies, as well as operational theory and force employment concepts to generate a conceptual framework for assessing and categorizing modern denied areas according to their critical elements. Inversely, a set of friendly focused, SOF specific, operational principles are proposed, which will enable room for maneuver in denied areas. These concepts have direct application for mission planning processes, training, and institutional consideration.