A Commander Seeks to Chart a New Path for Special Operations -- New York Times
WASHINGTON — Not long after Adm. William H. McRaven led the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, he was put in charge of the nation’s entire contingent of Special Operations forces, and set to work revamping them to face a widening array of new threats as America’s combat role in the Middle East and southwest Asia winds down.
His efforts to apply the lessons learned from more than a decade of fighting in the shadows of the larger wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have high-level support from a White House and Pentagon eager to avoid large-scale foreign interventions and to encourage allies to assume more of the burden of combating extremism and instability.
Admiral McRaven’s goal is to recast the command from its popular image of commandos killing or capturing terrorists, and expand a force capable of carrying out a range of missions short of combat — including training foreign militaries to counter terrorists, drug traffickers and insurgents, gathering intelligence and assessing pending risk, and advising embassies on security.
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More News On U.S. Special Operations
Special Operations Commander Defends Consolidation Efforts, Lays Out Future Strategy -- National Defense
Commander Looks to Expand Role of Special Ops -- Newsmax
Two Years After bin Laden Raid, the Future of Special Operations -- Nate Rawlings, Battleland/Time
Head of special ops warns of difficulties in Syria intervention -- Washington Free Beacon
Female U.S. soldiers given special operations in Afghanistan (Video) -- Washington Post
GI JANE: Officials Look At Women Joining SEAL Teams, Special Forces -- Business Insider
Special Operations Forces reexamining standards as women ready to join ranks -- FOX News/Washington Free Beacon
Special Operations: What New Powers They Need From Congress & Pentagon -- Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., Aol Defense
U.S. Special Operations Forces -- Council On Foreign Relations
Special Ops Office Needs To Grow; Meet Adm. McRaven's Favorite Pundit, Linda Robinson -- Aol Defense
Special ops bravado hurts national security -- Michele L. Malvesti and Nancy Walbridge Collins, CNN