UNITED STATES

SPECIAL OPERATIONS

COMMAND

UNITED STATES

S

P

E

C

I A L

O P E R AT I O N S C O M M

A

N

D

CAPSTONE 

CONCEPT 

fOR SPECIAL 

OPERATIONS

2006



Table of ConTenTs

Commander’s Foreword .................................................................................................................... 

I. Purpose and Scope ........................................................................................................................ 1

II. The CCSO’s Strategc Archtecture ............................................................................................ 2

III. Statement of the SOF Challenges .............................................................................................. 3

IV. Future Operatng Envronment ................................................................................................... 4

V. Concept of Operatons (CONOPS) ............................................................................................... 5

 A. Strategc Objectves ................................................................................................................. 8

 1. Department of Defense GWOT Lead: Plan, Prioritize, and 

Synchronize DoD global operations against terrorist networks .................................... 8

 2. Global Presence: Establish a worldwide persistent Joint SOF 

presence to shape operational environments .................................................................. 8

 3. Global Expeditionary Force: Create quick reaction, 

mission-focused, task organized Joint SOF teams .......................................................... 9

 B. Jont Specal Operatons Keystone Capablty Areas ....................................................... 10

 1. Joint Expeditionary Special Operations Forces (JESOF) .............................................. 11

 2. Joint Special Operations Warrior (JSOW) ...................................................................... 13

 3. Joint Special Operations Command, Control, Communications, 

Computers, and Information (JSOC4I) .............................................................................. 15

 4. Joint Special Operations Logistics, Acquisition, and Resourcing (JSOLAR) ............ 15

 5. Joint Special Operations Intelligence (JSOI) .................................................................. 16

VI. Implementaton Pathway .......................................................................................................... 18

VII. Concluson.................................................................................................................................. 18
Commander’s foreword

Not since World War II has this nation relied so heavily on its Special Operations Forces. 

Current conflicts test the very essence of our Special Operators; our training, our doctrine, 

and our resolve to defend our way of life. We have risen to this challenge and brought democracy to a region which has never before tasted the freedoms that we so readily defend. 

We are further engaged in bringing freedom to lands that have known only totalitarianism, 

dictatorships, or anarchy. Our mission is not complete, and our evolution to meet these and 

future challenges is unremitting.

Our commitment to this nation requires still more of our warriors. It requires a constant 

force evolution, not in response to our adversaries, but in advance of our adversaries. It 

requires a willingness to look beyond pressing issues of the day and prepare to engage an adversary that is not yet in our sights. This commitment transcends our loyalties to organization 

or to Service component and challenges us to see Special Operations Forces as a collective 

instrument of national strategic power.

The Capstone Concept for Special Operations is our overarching depiction of how the Special Operations community will support national strategic and military objectives beyond the 

Future Years Defense Plan. The evolution described within this concept is the result of years 

of research, wargaming, experimentation and lessons learned by our organizations and our 

warriors. This evolution is vital to our continued relevancy and our remaining the nation’s 

premier fighting force.

The future is unknown, but our resolve to meet the future’s challenges is firm. This concept 

will challenge us to further evolve in ways which are as unconventional as the warfare that we 

conduct. It will confront archetypes, challenge current doctrine, and require us to view the 

world of Special Operations as a collective capability as opposed to a collection of specialized 

warriors. We will meet this challenge, revolutionary as it is, and be fully prepared for tomorrow, in advance of tomorrow’s adversaries.

 Bryan D. Brown

General, U.S. Army 

Commander
CapsTone ConCepT for speCial operaTions 2006

The United States and its allies will remain 

at war for the foreseeable future. We will 

continue to battle a networked, technologically modern adversary that utilizes 

non-conventional methods of warfare as 

its primary means of operation. Traditional 

concepts of military response will no longer 

succeed in defeating the current enemy or 

removing the underlying conditions that 

give rise to similar future adversaries. In 

order for the U.S. to defeat these enemies, the 

U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and the Joint Special Operations community must continue to develop and transform. Change depends upon the new approaches and processes established in this Capstone Concept for Special Operations (CCSO).

The CCSO is an overarching concept 

that broadly describes how USSOCOM 

will implement its Title 10 functions and 

Unified Command Plan (UCP) missions. 

Additionally, it outlines how Commander, 

USSOCOM intends to focus current and 

programmed Joint Special Operations 

Force (SOF) capabilities using the growth 

identified in the 2006 Quadrennial Defense 

Review (QDR) and 2006 QDR Irregular 

Warfare Roadmap.

Looking forward to just beyond the Future 

Years Defense Program (FYDP), the CCSO 

describes how Joint SOF will be expected to operate around the globe, 

conducting 

activities 

unilaterally 

or in partnership with multinational militaries 

and other governmental and non-governmental organizations. Additionally, the CCSO articulates the transformational concepts that will prepare and position 

Joint SOF to win the Global War on Terrorism 

(GWOT), also known as the Long War.

UssoCom Vision

To be the premer team 

of specal warrors, 

thoroughly prepared, 

properly equpped, and 

hghly motvated: at the 

rght place, at the rght 

tme, facng the rght adversary, leadng the 

Global War on Terrorsm, accomplshng 

strategc objectves of the Unted States.

ED S T TAT

NI

E

U

S

S P

D

E

N

C

A

I A

M

L

M

O

O

P

C

E R

S

AT I O N

...ncreased SOF capacty to perform 

more demandng and specalzed tasks, 

especally long-duraton, ndrect and 

clandestne operatons n poltcally 

senstve envronments and dened areas. 

For drect acton, SOF wll possess an 

expanded organc ablty to locate, tag, 

and track dangerous ndvduals and 

other hgh-value targets globally. SOF 

wll also have a greater capacty to 

detect, locate, and render safe WMD. 

For unconventonal warfare and tranng 

foregn forces, future SOF wll have 

the capacty to operate n dozens of 

countres smultaneously.

2006 Quadrennial Defense Review
II

The CCSO is the intellectual foundation of the Command’s Long Range Planning Process 

(LRPP) and guides the Command’s transformational goals. It both expresses a SOF Challenge and delineates a Concept of Operations (CONOPS) with intended solutions. The solutions are presented as three overarching Strategic Objectives (GWOT Lead, Global Presence, 

and Global Expeditionary Force) that will transform Joint SOF. The CCSO also defines Joint 

Special Operations Keystone Capability Areas (JSOKCAs). The JSOKAs outline five related 

operational and support functions that encompass the full range of capabilities necessary to 

achieve the three Strategic Objectives. In order to address capability gaps, the CCSO will 

identify Joint Special Operations Enabling Concepts (JSOECs) integral to Capabilities Based 

Assessment (CBA). (See Figure 1 below for a graphical representation of the Capstone Concept Architecture/CBA Relationship.)

Next, USSOCOM’s Center for Special Operations Knowledge and Futures (SOKF) Division (J9), in collaboration with the Command’s centers and components, will develop the 

JSOECs, then explore and validate them through simulation, experimentation, wargaming, 

and assessments that identify joint and component SOF Doctrine, Organization, Training, 

Materiel, Leadership and Education, Personnel, and Facilities (DOTMLPF) change recommendations and capability needs. This process will provide the Command with a mechanism 

for shaping f uture Joint SOF operating environments that will range from engagement in 

under-governed and ungoverned areas to unilateral and combined operations in governed 

countries.
III

Since September 11th, the U.S. in general, and the Department of Defense (DoD) and USSOCOM in particular, have been adjusting to realities of the GWOT. The primary responses 

have tended toward the traditional: changes to long-standing force structure, organizations, 

training patterns, command and control arrangements, and concepts of force presentation 

that were developed during World War II and sustained for almost a half century of the 

Cold War. However, the traditional threats of the last century are today eclipsed by a nonconventional enemy. We are—and will continue to be—in a war of conflicting ideas, ideologies, social values, and human rights against an adversary capable of taking advantage of and 

hiding within the very societies it seeks to destroy. This adversary is ideologically and religiously driven as well as globally networked. Conventional military responses are of limited 

use against them. In this war, traditional kinetic weapons are less important than the tools of 

influence, information, and intelligence.

Joint SOF are better suited to function in these non-traditional environments than are 

general purpose forces. However, SOF must continually optimize its manner of organizing, 

equipping, training, and educating to meet and defeat these enemies on a regional or global 

scale. USSOCOM must persist in developing and maintaining forces capable of multiple operational roles. SOF’s indirect ability to influence and shape conditions in specific areas of 

strategic interest is essential as is its capability for maintaining a continuous presence. At the 

same time, SOF must not cease to cultivate its direct ability to find, fix, track, and eliminate 

specific enemy targets on a global basis. As a Command, USSOCOM must also direct attention toward its strategic war-directing capability in order to best function as the lead component for planning, prioritizing, and synchronizing all DoD efforts in the GWOT.

While striving to ensure that Joint SOF Command and Control (C2), force assignment, 

deployment authorization, and funding arrangements are responsive to meeting future 

challenges, USSOCOM must also optimally posture the Command for protracted irregular warfare on a global scale. That SOF maintains the ability to adapt to changing regional 

and global conditions is paramount. Appropriately tailoring Joint SOF packages comprised 

of warriors who possess competent regional language and cultural preparation will 

prepare SOF to keep fighting the Long War.

Addressing the challenges of the Long War compels USSOCOM 

to emphasize the use of indirect approaches rather than 

kinetic and direct activities at the tactical and operational 

levels. Concurrently, USSOCOM must be certain 

it continues to accentuate strategic planning and 

operational campaign development. Additionally, 

USSOCOM components must avoid organizing and presenting forces for theater employment independently of other component 

requirements in order to prevent episodic 

employments that are not linked to a purposeful campaign.
Continuing to follow the out-dated Cold War model of permanently assigning large 

numbers of SOF to specific overseas locations decreases overall Joint SOF flexibility. This 

model channels the attention of forces on regions that may not be priorities in the GWOT, 

creates unnecessary infrastructure costs, and sustains the requirement for duplicative C2 

arrangements. In this model, as responsiveness declines, staffs proliferate. Collectively, 

these challenges impose stovepiped decision-making, impeding adaptability, flexibility, and 

responsiveness. They drive duplicative and overlapping planning initiatives, reduce effective 

and rapid information sharing, waste resources, and hinder efficient, centralized management of forces and capabilities. It is vital that SOF avoid the temptation of accepting Cold 

War methods of warfighting as the most appropriate for current operations or the conduct 

of the future Long War.

USSOCOM is committed to bold initiatives and new approaches that will ensure its future 

success. Change, however, cannot be imposed by decree; it must reach down from the top at 

the same time it reaches up from the bottom, and it must flow through the entire Joint SOF 

community. The wartime perils that menace this nation’s citizens, our social order, economy, 

and future are real, powerful, and growing dangerously. In anticipation of such threats, 

USSOCOM will continue to nurture its capability of making the adaptations necessary to 

defeat the enemies of this country and prevail in the dynamic environment of tomorrow.

I

U.S. policy makers will continue to be faced with a number of 

complex problems and potentially catastrophic threats that will 

require the integration of all instruments of national power and 

the cooperation of all government agencies and coalition partners. 

These instruments of power must collaborate fully if we intend to 

preserve and advance U.S. national security interests and promote 

conditions favoring democratic values abroad. USSOCOM must 

be prepared for a strategic environment characterized by geopolitical uncertainties, rapid technological advances, emerging 

and evolving threats, constrained resources, and evolving roles 

in the GWOT. Future challenges to international stability and 

security include the threat posed by the continued proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including chemical, 

biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) devices on a 

global scale. Terrorist groups with the ability to construct, 

move, and employ such weapons represent a growing peril.

Continued social and political instability fueled by pandemics, 

rampant urbanization, and resource competition over food, water, 

fuel, and market commodities, will provide ideal conditions for social confrontation, violent 

struggle, and eventual societal disintegration in many parts of the world. This disintegration 

requires Joint SOF to prepare for long-term local, regional, and global irregular warfare in 

areas of strategic interest.
Joint SOF must be ready to conduct direct action operations in uncertain conditions and 

possibly on a continual basis. They will have to operate simultaneously in multiple Geographic Combatant Command (GCC) Areas of Responsibility (AORs) against both local 

threats and elements of networked global enemies. For Joint SOF, the challenges are immense: how to train to the enormous and demanding range of functional skills necessary to 

execute USSOCOM’s core tasks while adapting to the global demands of a generational war 

against unorthodox, extremist enemies.

The global nature as well as the local and regional focus of these threats obliges Joint SOF to 

apply new concepts of agile communications and information operations, intelligence, sustainment, mobility, organization, and operational employment. Joint SOF must achieve balance among multiple layers of GCC staffs, Theater Special Operations Commands (TSOCs), 

and Joint Special Operations Task Forces (JSOTFs) as well as interagency, multinational, 

and nongovernmental players. Hostile groups and individuals will continue to make use of 

failed and failing states to provide sanctuaries and bases for training, planning and logistical 

support. Populations in ungoverned or poorly governed areas will serve as recruitment pools 

and provide willing audiences for anti-Western or anti-American sentiment. As potential 

sanctuaries continue to spread globally, Joint SOF cultural and language preparation needs to 

become global in scope.

As USSOCOM prepares for the future, planners can assume that the United States will face 

almost no serious conventional threats from state-based adversaries in the current POM 

cycle, and it is unlikely the United States will face a “near-peer” threat to its global or regional 

influence through the FYDP. Still, Joint SOF must remain capable of engaging in traditional inter-state conflict, in combination with General Purpose Forces, against rogue states 

that possess CBRN weapons. Recurring concerns over possible (some say probable) CBRN 

weapons development and proliferation by rogue states and their surrogates will continue to 

present Joint SOF with a need to prepare operational-level plans to confront these regional 

threats. While countries such as Iran, North Korea and Syria fall into this category, they also 

continue to harbor, support, and fund regional and global terrorist organizations, making 

them adversaries in the GWOT as well as potential adversaries in inter-state conflict.

At the other end of the spectrum, regional and global networks of terrorist groups and cells 

will continue to seek the protection, freedom of information, and maneuverability that exist 

in modern democratic societies, including those of the United States and its allies. Recruitment, support, and preparation for terrorist attacks will take place within U.S. borders. These 

challenges can only be met by restructuring Joint SOF.

V. Concept of operations (Conops)

Bold new ideas must guide the future of Joint SOF. These ideas cannot be constrained by 

outdated policies or organizational imperatives. Global operational challenges, continuous 

wartime operations, budget realignments, shifting coalitions, demands for intelligence, new 

and unprecedented authorities for USSOCOM, and ever-present challenges of the GWOT 

have changed the landscape for preparation and employment of today’s Joint SOF. These 

pressures will remain in the future operating environment.
While conducting surgical direct action operations on a regional and global scale is imperative for USSOCOM, Joint SOF must also be able to maintain persistent presence with small 

groups of regional and global experts in areas of strategic interest for the GWOT. Joint SOF 

can best wage protracted irregular warfare by building partner capacity, influencing stability, 

and developing operational and intelligence networks within important areas. The Command must help develop and prosecute regional and global strategic communications and 

information operation campaigns. Protracted irregular warfare requires permanent forward 

presence; however, because not all deployments will necessitate this presence, the Command 

will benefit by developing responsive expeditionary forces tailored to meet regional and 

global requirements.

Specified Joint SOF units will provide permanent forward presence required for prosecuting 

irregular warfare in the GWOT, and that forward presence will intentionally remain small. 

The majority of the force will be prepared to “fall in” on those forward units under expeditionary conditions to provide either direct or indirect support, depending upon requirements. Such an expeditionary posture will allow USSOCOM to manage the limited Joint 

SOF force more centrally, tailor appropriate support packages, and “surge” forces when 

circumstances dictate.

Repositioning the majority of Joint SOF to the Continental United States (CONUS) will 

allow USSOCOM to exercise greater management of SOF preparation, equipping, training, and individual career development. This relocation ensures USSOCOM can deploy the 

right forces with the proper skill sets to meet national tasking. Repositioning also increases 

maximum utilization of manpower resources at the same time it increases quality of life for 

Special Operations personnel.

The individual Joint Special Operations Warrior (JSOW) must be selected, trained, educated, 

equipped, and provided the experience necessary to become a “warrior system” appropriate for 

each unit of assignment and mission set. SOF warriors must be flexible, regionally oriented, 

and unrivalled specialists in the application of both direct and indirect Joint SOF skills.

To educate and train the force needed to meet both today’s and tomorrow’s environments, 

USSOCOM must strive to develop Joint SOF leaders who understand the operational and 

strategic capabilities of joint conventional, interagency, coalition, and non-governmental 

organizations to be employed in the GWOT, as well as against more traditional adversaries. This knowledge development will produce a cadre of highly competent, experienced 

operational and strategic level SOF planners. These individuals will comprehend and effectively integrate the full range of U.S. military, interagency, non-governmental, and coalition 

capabilities, allowing USSOCOM to better accomplish its mission of leading the planning, 

prioritization, and synchronization of all DoD efforts in the GWOT.

Joint SOF must remain masters of no-tech and low-tech warfare, but the uncertain operating environment of the future will demand that USSOCOM also identify new scientific and 

technological initiatives that support future operations, improve or expand core competencies, and address emerging capability gaps and opportunities. The Command will become a 

test-bed for innovative initiatives within the DoD agencies, Services, national laboratories, 

and industry, seeking to maintain close working relationships with organizations pursuing 

technologies most relevant to Joint SOF. USSOCOM will enhance its ability to influence 


rapid fielding of Joint SOF-supporting technologies by expanding its experimentation, modeling and simulation, concept prototyping, and wargaming programs.

Joint SOF must continue to excel as forward deployed warrior-diplomats focused on building long-term, positive relationships throughout the world. Recognizing the historic propensity to emphasize direct, kinetic operations, USSOCOM will increase its ability to advise and 

render assistance to other nations’ security forces, establish regional and global operational 

and intelligence networks, and prepare, if necessary, for follow-on employment. USSOCOM’s indirect approach is key to long-term success in enhancing regional stability, preventing and defeating insurgencies, and waging irregular warfare offensively against hostile state 

and non-state enemies of the United States.

The environments that give rise to terrorism, insurgency, and instability require a commitment to critical core skills, Joint SOF career development, individual and organizational 

training, professional military education, and increased cultural acuity. Future USSOCOM 

investments across all DOTMLPF categories will focus on improving indirect capabilities: 

those that advance Unconventional Warfare, Foreign Internal Defense, Intelligence Operations, Civil-Military Operations, Psychological Operations, and other related efforts.

As a combatant command that also performs Service-like functions to train, equip, and 

organize forces, USSOCOM is committed to creating Joint SOF that are capable of both 

effective direct and indirect operations either unilaterally or with joint, interagency, and 

coalition forces, in fluid international partnerships, and with domestic and international 

civilian government and non-governmental agencies. This commitment requires assessment 

and modification of current recruitment, selection, education, training, and materiel acquisition practices to facilitate these relationships. The Command will create this balanced, fully 

interoperable, and networked Joint SOF through the robust concept development, assessment, experimentation, and validation process envisioned by this CCSO.
A. Strategic Objectives

To meet future challenges, USSOCOM must achieve three Strategic Objectives. The Strategic Objectives describe broad Command responsibilities and, in so doing, provide a baseline 

for identifying near-term and future Joint SOF capability needs.

1. Department of Defense GWOT Lead: Plan, Prioritize, and Synchronize DoD 

global operations against terrorist networks

The Commander, USSOCOM will continue to lead a global collaborative planning process 

that leverages the capabilities and expertise of all DoD components and results in decentralized mission execution by USSOCOM, other combatant commands, and interagency task 

forces against designated terrorist networks with global reach.

USSOCOM will establish both organizational structure and the processes necessary to accomplish the responsibilities tasked in the Unified Command Plan and described in approved GWOT contingency plans. The Command will establish efficient procedures to gain 

and share intelligence, planning, employment, and support information among combatant 

commands, the Joint Staff, and other DoD components. It will expand its liaison elements 

where appropriate and exchange liaison elements with all necessary DoD, interagency, and 

select coalition partners. It will seek to reduce artificial barriers to sharing classified information and develop and maintain a Common Global Intelligence and Operations Picture. Additionally, USSOCOM will join with DoD and other government agencies to develop and 

employ a global Strategic Communications plan to execute information operations specifically tailored to regional needs.

2. Global Presence: Establish a worldwide persistent Joint SOF presence to 

shape operational environments

Capitalizing on the strengths of Joint SOF in unconventional warfare, USSOCOM will 

establish a continuous presence in areas of strategic interest to the GWOT. When necessary, 

USSOCOM will integrate civil affairs, information operations, and foreign internal defense 

capabilities to develop global and regional networks with the capacity of shaping the operatS
ing environment and defeating the nation’s enemies. Persistent presence in areas of GWOT 

interest is vital to long-term success in denying sanctuary, disrupting terrorist activities, 

enhancing regional security and stability, and defeating insurgencies. The creation of an environment hostile to terrorist networks will be accomplished by integrating joint, interagency, 

nongovernmental organization, and coalition partner capabilities.

Serving as strategic geographic anchors, small forward-based Joint SOF teams will be situated 

in or adjacent to critical and sensitive countries. They will build stability through sustained 

engagement over a period of years with host nation security forces. In this environment, 

small Joint SOF teams are the best choice for influencing the training, equipping, and 

employing of host nation security forces created to stabilize environments and build partner 

nation capacity. However, Joint SOF may also be employed in under- or ungoverned areas to 

defeat or prevent the development of terrorist capabilities. In such circumstances, SOF may 

be required to build their own clandestine support infrastructure.

Working with and through indigenous populations, small Joint SOF teams will provide 

intimate knowledge of ongoing activities within areas of interest. These forward-based anchor 

teams will expand or supplement liaison element efforts. They will have operational reach that 

enables quick employment in surrounding areas, and the forward-based teams will be organized 

to conduct protracted irregular warfare in support of USSOCOM or GCC strategic plans.

Anchor teams will be composed of career-tracked, 

regional experts who have or are developing 

expertise in language, customs, attitudes, 

and cultural beliefs common to their 

focus region. These individuals will 

be able to establish vital, trusting 

relationships with indigenous 

populations Maintaining a 

prolonged presence will allow 

this select group of Joint SOF 

personnel to effectively integrate and influence host nation 

governments and their security 

forces at the same time they build 

partner capacity.

3. Global Expeditionary Force: Create quick reaction, mission-focused, 

task organized Joint SOF teams

Small, forward-based Joint SOF teams will support and be supported by larger expeditionary 

Joint SOF force packages composed of SOF, General Purpose Force, and interagency personnel 

rotating through land or maritime forward operating bases (FOB). Joint SOF rotational forces 

will continuously provide an appropriate force level to meet whatever timeline is required. 

Through this construct, Joint SOF units will continue to foster relationships with theater militaries, governments, non-governmental organizations, and other supporting agencies.
10

Joint SOF will continue to provide a strategic capability designed to achieve disproportionate 

effects in pursuit of US national interests. Joint SOF will remain a high demand, low density 

asset that will require considerable planning and coordination to ensure proper employment 

and prevent overextension. Re-posturing the preponderance of SOF to the United States will 

enhance oversight, planning, prioritization, and, most importantly, synchronization of the 

employment of Joint SOF assets for the GWOT. By consolidating most Joint SOF in CONUS, 

Commander, USSOCOM can more effectively and efficiently fulfill his role as both synchronizer and manager of Joint SOF. Commander, USSOCOM will be best positioned to prioritize 

activities and organize, equip, and size response forces tailored to specific regional needs.

In contrast to the contemporary model of relying on in-place SOF allocated to the TSOCs, 

the Commander, USSOCOM will synchronize GCC SOF requirements and provide forces 

to the GCCs using a process much like the current procedure for allocating carrier assets 

among geographic AORs. This model may change the structure, but it will not change the 

essential role of the TSOCs. As rotational Joint SOF deploy in theater, the TSOCs will 

maintain responsibility for the support coordination for these forces under the authority of 

the GCC. This may require that increased resourcing be provided to the TSOCs in order to 

employ, support, and sustain forward-based anchors and the expeditionary forces that will 

augment them under the new Joint SOF organizational construct.

The expeditionary nature of Joint SOF will allow for tailorable force packages capable of conducting operations in countries and regions of interest anywhere in the world. These tailorable force packages will provide GCCs with a highly responsive and adaptable instrument to 

influence operations or resolve crises.

B. Joint Special Operations Keystone Capability Areas

Joint Special Operations Keystone Capability Areas (JSOKCAs) broadly outline five related 

operational and support functions that encompass the full range of capabilities necessary to 

achieve the three Strategic Objectives. (See figure below.)

JoinT speCial operaTions KeYsTone CapabiliTY areas

Jont Expedtonary Specal Operatons Forces (JESOF)

Jont Specal Operatons Warror (JSOW)

Jont Specal Operatons Command, Control, Communcatons, Computers & 

Informaton (JSOC4I) 

Jont Specal Operatons Logstcs, Acquston and Resourcng (JSOLAR) 

Jont Specal Operatons Intellgence (JSOI)

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤
11

By analyzing the JSOKCAs, USSOCOM will identify Joint Special Operations Enabling 

Concepts (JSOECs) that address the capability areas. The JSOECs will examine and assess 

specific capabilities that, when taken collectively, will provide the pathway the Command 

and its components will follow to improve existing capabilities and design, develop, integrate, 

and synchronize planning, support, and employment capabilities to meet both current challenges and those anticipated through and beyond the FYDP. The JSOKCAs identify the broad 

capability sets that the Command must develop in order to achieve its Strategic Objectives, 

while the JSOECs will identify, assess, and validate the specific capabilities needed to do so.The 

Command will explore and validate these new concepts through a robust program of simulation, experimentation, wargaming, and assessments to identify joint and component special 

operations DOTMLPF change recommendations and capability needs. (See Figure 2 above). 

The five JSOKCAs will focus the Command’s enabling concept development and transformation efforts.

➤

1. Joint Expeditionary Special Operations Forces (JESOF)

USSOCOM will require a change in organizational constructs and force presentation procedures to meet the expeditionary requirements of the GWOT. Expeditionary force employment will require new methods to deploy, employ, and sustain Joint SOF on a regional and 

global basis. It will generate multiple subordinate Joint SOF enabling concepts that address 

strategic, operational, and tactical needs for future SOF success. The JESOF’s supporting 

concepts must address all operational aspects of future SOF employment, from low-level, 

sustained, indirect operations to surgical direct action on a world-wide scale.

The JESOF capability area will allow Joint SOF to more readily respond on a global basis to 

a range of regional and global requirements. USSOCOM will provide tailored, fully capable 

Joint SOF force packages on a continuing rotational basis. In order to accomplish this new 

force posture, USSOCOM will, at a minimum:

Develop a Joint SOF global force posture that meets both GCC and USSCOM 

requirements
12

Task subordinate commands and units to meet these regional and global 

requirements

Identify strategic and regional mobility requirements, to include overt and clandestine capabilities to support both direct and indirect warfare operations

Utilize the USSOCOM Joint Operations 

Readiness and Training System (JORTS) 

model to prepare forces for mission employment to sustain persistent presence 

and provide for contingency response 

on a global scale (See Figure 3)

Develop, where required, new organizational constructs and command and 

control, planning, support, mobility 

and sustainment processes, focusing 

on a Joint SOF expeditionary force 

posture vice the traditional focus on 

Service component forces

Examine forward basing, including 

land and sea options, depending upon 

regional and global imperatives

Examine a new process for preparing deployment orders to provide for 

flexibility in the execution of missions and acceptance of new tasking from 

GCCs, to include provision for the integration into combat operations. This 

new process should include improved and flexible mission funding procedures

Examine the requirements to establish and sustain global unconventional 

warfare supporting networks

Develop concepts for fully integrating interagency, conventional force and 

coalition operations with Joint SOF

Examine possible changes to TSOC organization and manning required to 

support the expeditionary construct, and to sustain unilateral SOF as well as 

integrated joint SOF, conventional force, interagency and coalition operations

Examine the organizational options to exercise operational control of Joint 

SOF engaged in low-visibility missions in countries with which the United 

States is not at war

Joint SOF enabling concepts developed in support of this JSOKCA will outline DOTMLPF 

capability needs to develop and sustain these expeditionary units, ensuring their transparent 

transition to any theater and under any command structure.

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤
13

2. Joint Special Operations Warrior (JSOW)

The success of the CCSO is predicated upon the development of specific core competencies 

in Joint SOF. The evolutionary and transformational objectives described by the five JSOKCAs can only be met through the proper selection and career development of the individual 

Joint SOF Warrior. The Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) developed a Joint SOF 

competency model (See Figures 4 and 5) that describes the full range of capabilities required 

of the Joint SOF Leader, which can be applied to all SOF Warriors.

Joint SOF Warriors will need to possess the intellectual agility to conceptualize creative, 

useful solutions to ambiguous problems and provide coherent options to Joint Force Commanders. SOF will train for discrete skill development and employment, but will necessarily 

have to receive educational and experience opportunities for multiple skill comprehension, 

synthesis, and application at the operational and strategic levels of this global war. The key is 

not to produce specific answers to explicit threats, but to build broad, flexible capabilities to 

meet the uncertain, shifting nature of the challenge.

The Joint SOF Leadership Competency Model articulates six competency clusters that, like 

the JSOKCAs, “roll up” similar capability sets. JSOU determined the relative importance of 

these competency clusters across the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of war.
14

Producing concepts to develop the Joint SOF Warrior, this JSOKCA will open the way to 

examining new methodologies, organizational structures, and relationships that enrich future 

Joint SOF with the diversity of thought and background for the global environment of 

tomorrow. Joint SOF Warriors must be fully capable at all levels of warfare—tactical to strategic. The envisioned Joint SOF Warrior of the Future will be far more diverse in capability, 

education, training, ethnicity, age, and other characteristics. The Joint SOF Warrior will be 

proficient in interagency and international relationships and increasingly capable of operating for extended periods of time in diverse regions of the world. Properly selected individuals 

will be trained, educated, and experienced to perform at increasing levels of operational and 

strategic responsibility during the progress of their careers. USSOCOM will:

Develop an educational process that transitions today’s Joint SOF Warrior into the Joint Special Operations Warrior of the future who will be prepared and equipped for global expeditionary employment and possess the skills necessary to synchronize operational and strategic 

activities of the GWOT

Develop a prototype of the Joint SOF Warrior System, blending individual 

skills with the proper equipment, weapons, mobility, support, and communications systems

Establish a process for Joint SOF human capital development

Develop a Joint SOF “cradle to grave” career management system emphasizing 

selected educational, overseas and exchange or liaison assignments

Examine the means by which Joint SOF can become more diverse in order to 

mirror the host populations in future operational areas

Examine authorities and laws that need to be changed to effect the transformation from today’s Joint SOF Warrior to tomorrow’s globally diverse Joint 

SOF Warrior

Examine potential changes to current selection and assessment processes to 

broaden the range of people joining Joint SOF

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤
15

Examine reorganization of JSOU into a Joint Special Operations Training and 

Education Command (JSOTEC) to direct and integrate educational initiatives and student management throughout USSOCOM, create and manage 

SOF Doctrine, and coordinate educational initiatives with other DoD, interagency, civilian and foreign educational institutions

The development of the Joint SOF Warrior is about more than people. The individual Joint 

SOF Warrior must be selected, trained, educated, equipped and experienced to become the 

centerpiece of a warrior system appropriate for each unit of assignment and mission set. SOF 

Warriors must become more flexible, regionally oriented, and developed as specialists in the 

application of either direct or indirect Joint SOF skills. SOF 

will include a cadre of highly competent and experienced 

individuals who are proficient in strategic planning 

and operational campaign development and tactical experts in their fields. This cadre will appreciate and effectively integrate the full range of 

U.S. military, interagency, nongovernmental, 

and coalition capabilities, allowing USSOCOM to better meet its task of leading the 

planning, prioritization, and synchronization of all DoD efforts in the GWOT. Joint 

SOF Warriors, whether on active duty, in the 

Reserve components, or retired, represent 

a strategic national asset, and their careers 

must be closely managed to ensure long-term 

benefits for SOF.

3. Joint Special Operations Command, Control, Communications, Computers, 

and Information (JSOC4I)

USSOCOM will develop capabilities that integrate disparate C4I initiatives throughout the 

Joint SOF community. Commanders, SOF operators, and concept developers will establish 

comprehensive processes to create and field a global, seamless, networked, and fully interoperable future C4I infrastructure. USSOCOM will:

Develop a CONUS-based center to control and manage a developing architecture which will tie into existing and future communication and computer 

systems

Develop the architecture to create a single SOF network on a global scale

Develop a Joint SOF education and training base to standardize C4I capabilities

Develop an expedited C4I acquisition cycle supported by the LRPP and a 

robust gap analysis process

Examine requirements for global C4I specifically designed to support the 

Command’s UCP responsibilities to meet the first CCSO strategic objective

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤
16

Develop a comprehensive knowledge management system to capture operational and support data, conduct immediate data analysis, develop recommendations and provide relevant feedback to the right levels of command

The fundamental characteristics of this JSOKCA and its enabling concepts must ensure accuracy, speed of information sharing, and the flexibility to support both Joint SOF global 

persistent presence and the new Joint SOF expeditionary construct.

4. Joint Special Operations Logistics, Acquisition, and Resourcing (JSOLAR)

USSOCOM will transform its logistics, acquisition, and resourcing processes to meet its 

responsibilities for global persistent presence and rapid global expeditionary employment. 

JSOLAR calls for a highly adaptable and responsive mechanism for developing, funding, and 

fielding fully interoperable, state-of-the-art capabilities to Joint SOF and their coalition partners 

while ensuring economies of effort and scale. This will require the integration of best business 

practices and the development of agile supporting policy processes. USSOCOM will:

Explore new financing options that better support Joint SOF global persistent 

presence and the fielding and sustainment of a more agile and flexible global 

expeditionary force

Examine new ways to streamline legislative authorities and accounting practices to facilitate procurement and R&D efforts

Examine new means of supporting global unconventional warfare networks 

that include coalition partners and surrogate forces

Examine options to further speed acquisition of time-critical capabilities and 

identify any required changes to authorities

The development of this JSOKCA provides the Commander, USSOCOM with a common 

operating picture of all Joint SOF logistics, acquisition, resourcing, and financing activities 

and enables the Command and its components to meet the CCSO’s Strategic Objectives.

5. Joint Special Operations Intelligence (JSOI)

USSOCCOM requires a seamless, globally distributed intelligence system that unifies the entire 

Joint SOF Community. The current Joint SOF intelligence systems favor the intelligence requirements of those Joint SOF units engaged in direct action against individual GWOT targets. 

USSOCOM requires a holistic intelligence approach that spans across all elements of Joint SOF 

with much greater emphasis on the intelligence requirements of counter-network operations and 

unconventional warfare. At the strategic level, USSOCOM will establish intelligence requirements 

for DoD operations against terrorist networks. At the operational level, initiatives are already 

underway to create or improve Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities 

that will enable Joint SOF to better tag, track, and locate specific individuals and detect and locate 

weapons of mass destruction (WMD). USSOCOM will implement new initiatives focused on 

ISR capabilities that will enable Joint SOF to wage protracted unconventional warfare against 

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤
17

terrorist networks and their state and non-state sponsors. At the tactical level, USSOCOM will 

continue to expand the intelligence capabilities organic to Joint SOF units and improve the fusion 

of mutually supporting intelligence activities and military operations. USSOCOM will:

Develop the capacity to improve the individual and unit level intelligence 

gathering, analysis, and reporting capabilities of Joint SOF units

Develop mechanisms for integrating interagency and coalition partner intelligence data

Increase full-spectrum intelligence capabilities and sources by improving liaison operations focused on promoting collaboration and coordination on local, 

regional, and global scales

Establish a comprehensive, operationally integrated, global common intelligence 

picture that supports USSOCOM responsibility to synchronize the GWOT

Examine different approaches to integrate network analysis techniques to 

generate information that will develop appropriate effects-based operations in 

the GWOT

Explore organizational and operational enhancements of operations-intelligence fusion

Establish education and implementation plans to ensure each soldier can perform as an intelligence sensor

The development of this JSOKCA will provide the Commander with the tools and procedures needed to generate and exploit all-source intelligence in order to 

achieve the CCSO’s Strategic Objectives.

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤

➤
18

Vi. implementation pathway

USSOCOM will resolve the SOF Challenge by achieving the three Strategic Objectives described in the CCSO. To do so, USSOCOM will undertake the following implementation plan:

Active Management of the Joint Special Operations Keystone Capability Areas. USSOCOM has designated SOKF J-9 as the lead Center for concept development within the USSOCOM headquarters. SOKF-J9 will serve as the Office of Primary Responsibility (OPR) 

for the continued development and management of the CCSO, the JSOKCAs, and supporting operational and enabling concepts. As the OPR, SOKF-J9 will create development plans, 

establish timelines, and task other Centers, Components, and Subject Matter Experts in 

order to create necessary supporting documents to the CCSO. 

Develop, Assess, and Experiment with Joint Special Operations Concepts. The Concept 

Development Process (CDP) will initially focus on developing a core set of JSOECs from 

the JSOKCAs identified in the CCSO (JESOF, JSOW, JSOC4I, JSOLAR, and JSOI). Then 

through a spiral development process, additional enabling concepts will be identified for later 

development. The most critical requirement in developing the core set of JSOECs is frequent 

interaction with the Commander, USSOCOM and those senior leaders who are directly affected by the changes.

The CDP will utilize the procedures outlined in the USSOCOM Long Range Planning Process, while ensuring unconstrained ideas are addressed, captured, and developed as required. 

Each JSOEC will be routed through SOKF-J9 Experimentation and Wargaming Division in 

order to determine its feasibility and applicability and fine-tune the final document for staffing. The concepts will then be staffed through the effected USSOCOM Centers and Components, after which the documents will be presented to the Commander, USSOCOM for final 

approval.

Once published, the JSOECs will serve as the impetus for capabilities-based changes 

throughout USSOCOM and will help identify additional JSOECs for continued transformation. The entire complement of concepts is pivotal for conducting capabilities-based 

assessment, as described in the LRPP. The CCSO, JSOKCAs and JSOECs are intended to 

be living documents and will need continual and timely revision as the future unfolds and 

provides possible alternate directions of effort.

Vii. Conclusion

Victory in the Long War requires a global focus, regional expertise, innovative ideas, patience, 

and a transformed Joint SOF. The Command’s three Strategic Objectives will only be 

achieved by maximizing the benefits of current and programmed force improvements and the 

development of future capabilities. This effort is, and will remain, interagency and international in scope, and USSOCOM is uniquely positioned to further international cooperation 

and to strengthen interagency relationships within the U.S. Government. The Command 

will continue to improve its ability to help partner nations to defeat terrorism within their 

own borders by developing and fielding better capabilities for direct and indirect operations.
19

USSOCOM will leverage current and programmed capability and capacity improvements 

through the spiral concept development and validation process described in this CCSO. The 

Command will establish a global operational network in which Joint SOF are positioned and 

empowered to act with other DoD, Interagency, and partner assets against terrorist organizations, their sponsors and supporters, while continuing to meet the GCC’s other regional 

challenges.

USSOCOM will continue to apply innovative thinking, energy, focus, skill, courage, and 

determination to defeat worldwide terrorism and prepare for the future.

UNITED STATES

SPECIAL OPERATIONS 

COMMAND

UNITED STATES

S P E C I A L O P E R AT I O N S C O M M A N D

Futures Directorate, Center for Knowledge & Futures

United Special Operations Command

7701 Tampa Point Blvd.

MacDill Air Force Base, Florida 33621-5323
20

Notes

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
21

Notes

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
22

Notes

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

UNITED STATES

SPECIAL OPERATIONS 

COMMAND

UNITED STATES

S P E

C I A L

O P E R AT I O N S C O M M

A

N

D