STRIKING A BALANCE: SOF’S ROLE IN BALANCING LETHALITY WITH OTHER INSTRUMENTS OF NATIONAL POWER

Abstract

Twenty years of constant conflict in multiple regions across the globe have created a problem for United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM): it has become over reliant on lethality to achieve its strategic goals. This overreliance on lethality and the lethality default culture that has taken hold in USSOCOM has begun to have second- and third-order effects as the United States moves into a renewed period of great power competition. While great power competition historically has included periods of conflict and peace, large-scale combat operations remain less prevalent. This research investigated how special operations forces (SOF) can find the optimal balance of lethality along with other elements of national power and determined that balancing lethality with other instruments of national power can help increase the effectiveness of SOF operations, while supporting a whole-of-government approach. This thesis also addressed how SOF engages with the civil domain and expands its engagements to elements outside of security across the physical domain. This study found that USSOCOM must balance how much lethality it uses in great power competition while holistically evaluating other instruments of national power, depending on the conditions prevalent in each region or country that SOF engages in. Ultimately, this research determined that lethality alone cannot achieve victory in most modern conflicts.