Page 87 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo II

727
ActA
Strategic Integration - Mission and Practices of NATO
Special Operations Forces

NANCY CollINS

Part I
Objective
his presentation analyzes the emergence of NATO Special Operations Forces
T (SOF) in the twenty-first century, at present, and its near-term challenges.
Method
Its focus is the case study of Afghanistan, the only conflict in which NATO SOF has
had universal participation. This presentation analyzes the duration of the conflict, from
autumn 2001 to the present, as a site of strategic integration of NATO’s SOF.
Relevance
It provides an essential model for understanding twenty-first century warfare, both its
critical factors and its current limitations. To date, this SOF integration effort is the most
significant undertaking toward a globally networked interoperable force. The fault lines
in Afghanistan are immediately applicable in current battlegrounds—including Mali,
Libya, and Syria—and potentially significant to policy decisions regarding a number of
areas of concern, including the South China Sea, North Korea, and Egypt.

Part II
Definitions
SOF are defined as highly trained units that perform selected military activities, fre-
quently high-risk missions, often for the purposes of counterterrorism and counterin-
surgency.
Growth
Since 9/11, Special Operations Forces have surged in their strategic utility. SOF now
resides in a new and unfamiliar place, a result of the exceptional growth in its role and
resources, the effects of the long war on its culture, and the global operational environ-
ment that questions the use of large, heavy, and costly conventional military formations.

Utility
SOF hasn’t always been in such demand. Far from it. It was the rise of international
terrorist activity, especially in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, that brought SOF to the fore in a
th
number of NATO nations. September 11 brought about its major transformation, to
its current position of prominence in the twenty-first century, bringing together multi-