McChrystle throws a spotlight onto our dark knights

The invasion of Afghanistan and toppling of the Taliban was led by historically few spooks and special operators. CIA field agents and small special operations units led a fierce and agressive local insurgency and continued the hunt for Al Qaeda in the mountains of Tora Bora. While our deployment and strategy in Afghanistan has changed over the years the emphasis on small Special Ops units has remained a major component throughout. Small units of Navy SEALS, Army Green Berets, and CIA teams have, with major air and artillery support assets, left a footprint far larger then their numbers would suggest.

Is that a good thing?

Today ISAF commander General Stanley McChrystle has announced that for the first time in our nation's proud and fiercely independent history of special operations, the Special Operations Command, based out of Ft. Bragg, will be brought under direct control of the general staff. Since the formation of the Army's Special Operations Command, American SOF (Special Operations Forces) have fought alongside, but independent of, the general Army command structure due to the highly classified and often "black" nature of their missions.

The massive deployment of SOF in Afghanistan had given an unprecedented leadership role to our "dark knights" and they produced initially spectacular results. However, as the war as become an insurgency, the overwhelming force favored by SOF units has become detrimental to our long term interests in Afghanistan. While effective in some missions, in Afghanistan, the preferred SOF force doctrine has led to increasingly worrisome "collateral damage" that is incongruent with the new "protect and hold" strategy McChrystle is attempting to implement.

I commend Gen. McChrystle for his admission of a problem, and perseverance in what was no doubt, a highly contentious internal decision. While uniquely versed and respected in the Special Operations World from his tenure as Joint Special Operations Commander in Iraq, reigning in our black knights was undoubtedly fought tooth and nail throughout the ranks of the US SOC and shows how committed Gen McChrystal is to winning this war.