U.S. Representative Jack Bergman (R-MI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations, delivered the following opening remarks at a hearing on the role of special operations forces (SOF) in great power competition.
Rep. Bergman's remarks as prepared for delivery:
Good afternoon.
I call to order this hearing of the Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee on "The Role of Special Operations Forces in Great Power Competition."
The United States is facing a dramatically different geopolitical environment than any other time in recent decades. While this century has been dominated by our efforts in the Global War on Terrorism, the new era of great power competition presents strategic challenges from revisionist states in China and Russia and their rogue state allies in Iran and North Korea. All the while, the threat from violent extremist organizations persists, as nodes from ISIS, al-Qaeda, and their affiliates continue to seek out unstable regions from which they can plot and plan against Western targets.
As the United States faces an inflection point in geostrategic competition, so too does our special operations community. Thankfully, the SOF enterprise is well-suited to address the challenges posed by great power competition, where core SOCOM activities such as irregular warfare and the train, advise, and assist mission offer the ability to present strategic and operational challenges to our adversaries and enable our allies and partners to resist outside aggression.
Great power competition, in which conventional force capabilities may play a larger role in deterring hostile actions from our state adversaries, similarly means that special operations forces will play more of a supporting and enabling role for the wider joint force. The core functions of the SOF enterprise, when taken together, provide options and capabilities across the entire operational spectrum—from gray zone competition to direct military engagement if the need arises. During this transition, it will be critical for our special operators to continue to hone new skills and expertise in a variety of areas, from critical cultural knowledge and language capabilities, to being tactically proficient in the cyber and information space.
Today's hearing is focused on the role of special operations forces as the United States enters an era of great power competition. This Subcommittee will seek to examine the unique capabilities of SOCOM and how special operations forces' core activities may complement and enable the Joint Force to operate against strategic adversaries. We hope to further understand which skill sets of the SOF community must be relearned after twenty-plus years of counterterrorism, and what new skills our special operators must learn to operate in the 21st century gray zone, below the threshold of direct military intervention.
Our witnesses today have a breadth of experience with the special operations community and the study of gray zone conflict and irregular warfare.
- Dr. Seth Jones is a Senior Vice President at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Dr. Jones has also served as a director at the RAND Corporation and has served as a plans officer and adviser to the commanding general of US Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan.
- And Dr. David Ucko is a professor and department chair at the College of International Security Affairs at the National Defense University, where he oversees the College's irregular warfare area of concentration.
- In the interest of time, I ask the witnesses to keep their opening remarks to five minutes or less so that we have sufficient time for questions-and-answers.
With that, let me thank our witnesses for appearing before us today.
