Enhancing national security in Hungary through the development and employment of Special Forces

Abstract

This thesis establishes an analytical framework for identifying and discussing strategic factors considered when developing the Hungarian Special Forces (HUNSF) as a new "niche" capability of the Hungarian Defense Forces (HDF). Although the findings have broad application, focus is on the Hungarian Special Forces unit. Key questions are how will factors such as the strategic environment, changes in the nature of war and characteristics of potential adversaries affect the development of a conceptual framework for the Hungarian Special Forces? Should unconventional warfare (which is a capability gap in the HDF at present) be an official task for the future Hungarian military forces and specifically a primary task for the HUNSF? Central to this study are factors found in the strategic environment, such as Hungary's affiliation with NATO and the EU. The thesis concentrates on defining the tasks for HUNSF, and based on these tasks, develops an organizational framework for the HUNSF capability. This framework includes training and command and control. The constantly changing security environment will also call for adjustments to the concept of HUNSF in the future; therefore, a vision for the HUNSF is incorporated into the thesis to provide flexibility and guidance for capability development in the future. A key finding of the thesis is that HUNSF has the potential to contribute to the fight against the many new security challenges and achieve many of the objectives posited in existing military transformation strategies, most importantly an unconventional warfare capability.