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20 Feb 25. Hegseth Addresses Strengthening Military by Cutting Excess, Refocusing DOD Budget. During a recorded, on-camera address from the Pentagon today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed his priorities of strengthening the military by cutting fiscal fraud, waste and abuse at DOD while also finding ways to refocus the department’s budget.
Hegseth began his remarks stating the Defense Department owes the American people transparency related to steps DOD is taking to accomplish its mission while being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.
“We shoot straight with you. We want you, the American people — the taxpayers — to understand why we’re making the decisions that we’re making here,” Hegseth said, adding that DOD is working as quickly as possible to execute the priorities of achieving peace through strength by rebuilding the military, restoring the warrior ethos and reestablishing deterrence.
Prior to getting in-depth on issues related to the department’s finances, Hegseth cautioned viewers to take anything they’ve heard and/or read on the topic with a “gigantic grain of salt.”
“Ever since I’ve taken this position, the only thing I’ve cared about is doing right by our service members — soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and guardians,” Hegseth said.” In short, we want the biggest, most badass military on the planet.”
Hegseth then touched on three areas related to the Pentagon’s finances.
First, Hegseth said to tackle excess spending and address the issue of fraud, waste and abuse within DOD, the department would be relying on the recently established Department of Government Efficiency.
” here, and they’re going to be incorporated into what we’re doing at DOD to find fraud, waste and abuse in the largest discretionary budget in the federal government,” Hegseth said.
He added that DOGE would be given access to systems — with proper safeguards and classifications — to first find redundancies and identify previous priorities not core to the department’s current mission and then get rid of them.
“With DOGE, we are focusing as much as we can on headquarters and fat and top-line stuff that allows us to reinvest elsewhere,” Hegseth said.
He then pivoted to the topic of reorienting the defense budget inherited from the previous administration.
Hegseth said beginning immediately, the Pentagon will pull 8% — or roughly $50 billion — from nonlethal programs in the current budget and refocus that money on President Donald J. Trump’s “America First” priorities for national defense.
“That’s not a cut; it’s refocusing and reinvesting existing funds into building the force that protects you, the American people,” Hegseth said.
He also said there are certain areas where funds will not be refocused — border protection, fighting transnational criminal organizations, nuclear modernization, submarine programs, missile defense, drone technology, cybersecurity, core readiness and training and the defense industrial base among them.
The secretary then turned to his third topic: the reevaluation of the Defense Department’s probationary workforce.
Hegseth pushed back on recent reports that DOD would do across-the-board cuts of all probationary employees.
He said leaders are reevaluating probationary employees “carefully and smartly,” and future manning decisions would be based, in part, on quality of performance.
“We’re starting with the poor performers among our probationary employees because it’s common sense that you want the best and brightest,” Hegseth said.
“So, when you look at headcount, we’re going to be thoughtful; but we’re also going to be aggressive up and down the chain to find the places where we can ensure the best and brightest are promoted based on merit,” he continued.
Hegseth added DOD will implement a hiring freeze to take time to identify better hiring practices as they relate to finding the most “hard charging” employees that are central to the department’s core warfighting mission.
The secretary finished his remarks by returning to the topic of transparency and the value he sees in communicating directly to the people.
“Our warfighters and taxpayers deserve no less, and we’ll keep reporting back to you from time to time on what we’re seeing,” Hegseth said.
“We appreciate your support as we move out … on making our military once again into the most lethal, badass force on the planet to keep our country safe.” (Source: U.S. DoD)
19 Feb 25. Statement by Performing the Duties of Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert G. Salesses. President Trump’s charge to the Department is clear: to achieve peace through strength. We will do this by putting forward budgets that revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence. To achieve our mandate from President Trump, we are guided by his priorities including Securing our borders, building the Iron Dome for America, and ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing.
Accordingly, Secretary Hegseth has directed a review to identify offsets from the Biden Administration’s FY26 budget that could be realigned from low-impact and low-priority Biden-legacy programs to align with President Trump’s America First priorities for our national defense.
The Department will develop a list of potential offsets that could be used to fund these priorities, as well as to refocus the Department on its core mission of deterring and winning wars. The offsets are targeted at 8% of the Biden Administration’s FY26 budget, totaling around $50 bn, which will then be spent on programs aligned with President Trump’s priorities.
The Department of Defense is conducting this review to ensure we are making the best use of the taxpayers’ dollars in a way that delivers on the President Trump’s defense priorities efficiently and effectively.
Through our budgets, the Department of Defense will once again resource warfighting and cease unnecessary spending that set our military back under the previous administration, including through so-called “climate change” and other woke programs, as well as excessive bureaucracy. The time for preparation is over – we must act swiftly to deter current and impending threats and make the best use of taxpayers’ dollars in doing so. (Source: U.S. DoD)
19 Feb 25. White House eyes 8% cut to defense budget to boost Trump priorities. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered senior military officials to develop a budget plan that would slash defense spending by 8%, a dramatic cut which could reshape military end-strength and readiness for decades.
In a memo first obtained by the Washington Post, Hegseth ordered the proposed cuts to be compiled by Feb. 24. Seventeen categories would be exempt from the budget reductions, including military operations at the southern U.S. border, nuclear weapons and missile defense programs, and acquisition of certain drones and munitions.
The idea of steep defense cuts, originally reported by Bloomberg last week, is certain to draw opposition from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, where Republicans in recent weeks had been discussing major increases in defense spending in upcoming years – not significant cuts.
But Hegseth’s budget plans appear to follow broader instructions from President Donald Trump to reduce government spending, including the dismissal of thousands of federal workers in the last few weeks.
Total defense spending reached nearly $850bn in fiscal 2024. The fiscal 2025 Defense Department budget has not yet been finalized, despite the new fiscal year starting last October.
The Washington Post reported the potential 8% cut as an annual reduction for five years. But in a memo sent out Wednesday evening, acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses said the goal was to find “offsets” in the fiscal 2026 budget plan, with a goal of finding at least $50 bn to transfer to “programs aligned with President Trump’s priorities.”
An 8% annual cut for the next five years would mean almost $300 bn less in military spending through fiscal 2030 compared to a stable budget figure. But most years, lawmakers approve increases in military spending at least equal to inflation, and often even higher than that.
“Through our budgets, the Department of Defense will once again resource warfighting and cease unnecessary spending that set our military back under the previous administration, including through so-called ‘climate change’ and other woke programs, as well as excessive bureaucracy,” Salesses wrote. “The time for preparation is over. We must act swiftly to deter current and impending threats and make the best use of taxpayers’ dollars in doing so.”
Defense Department officials did not provide a public copy of Hegseth’s memo to agency heads.
Earlier this year, Trump publicly suggested that all NATO countries spend at least 5% of their gross domestic product on defense, a figure that would mandate a nearly $1 tn military budget for the United States.
Approving any defense cuts will fall to the Republican-led Congress, which began hearings on the fiscal 2026 military budget in the last few days. That process is expected to take most of the year.
Before that, lawmakers still need to reach agreement on a short-term or long-term budget extension for fiscal 2025 by the middle of March, or trigger a partial government shutdown.
Last month, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told Breaking Defense he hoped to boost defense spending by as much as $200bn in coming years to deal with growing threats from China, Iran and other adversaries. (Source: Army Times)
19 Feb 25. Pentagon seeks to shift $50bn in planned funding to new priorities in FY26.
Breaking Defense obtained a list of the 17 priority categories that are to be financially protected in FY26.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered a review of the department’s fiscal 2026 budget plans in order to shift funds from legacy programs towards President Donald Trump’s priorities, including border security and the Iron Dome for America.
The goal: Find roughly $50bn, or 8 percent of the FY26 plan, and reprioritize it.
“Secretary Hegseth has directed a review to identify offsets from the Biden Administration’s FY26 budget that could be realigned from low-impact and low-priority Biden-legacy programs to align with President Trump’s America First priorities for our national defense,” acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses said in a Wednesday night statement.
“The Department will develop a list of potential offsets that could be used to fund these priorities, as well as to refocus the Department on its core mission of deterring and winning wars. The offsets are targeted at 8% of the Biden Administration’s FY26 budget, totaling around $50 bn, which will then be spent on programs aligned with President Trump’s priorities.”
While not noted in the Salesses statement, the Washington Post earlier today reported that the 8 percent shift would not just be for FY26, but for each year of the five-year long Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) that accompanies the annual budget request.
After the statement was released, Breaking Defense obtained a portion of Hegseth’s memo, which lists 17 “offsets” which “may not be included by services and component in their eight percent decrease” recommendations. Those are:
• Southwest Border Activities
• Combating Transnational Criminal Organizations in the Western Hemisphere
• Audit
• Nuclear Modernization (including NC3)
• Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs)
• Virginia-class Submarines
• Executable Surface Ships
• Homeland Missile Defense
• One-Way Attack/Autonomous Systems
• Counter-small UAS Initiatives
• Priority Critical Cybersecurity
• Munitions
• Core Readiness, including full DRT funding
• Munitions and Energetics Organic Industrial Bases
• Executable INDOPACOM MILCON
• Combatant Command support agency funding for INDOPACOM, NORTHCOM, SPACECOM, STRATCOM, CYBERCOM, and TRANSCOM
• Medical Private-Sector Care
It’s unclear what kind of programs will be targeted outside this list, although Salesses in his statement said the department will target “unnecessary spending” like “so-called ‘climate change’ and other woke programs, as well as excessive bureaucracy.” It’s also unclear if the decision not to exempt support for EUCOM, AFRICOM, CENTCOM or SOUTHCOM is a sign that those regions may be downplayed as priorities.
It’s not unusual for a new administration to take a look at the previous administration’s planned budget, though the statement tonight would seem to indicate a greater shift than previous teams go for in their first budget request.
This effort would seem to be a parallel but different one from the cuts expected to be pushed by the Elon Musk-led DOGE office, which arrived this week at the Pentagon. Those in defense circles are bracing for a wave of personnel cuts, perhaps as soon as this week, as probationary employees in the civilian workforce have been early targets of DOGE during their other stops.
How the idea of cuts lines up with proposals in Congress to increase the department’s budget by either $100bn or $150bn through the reconciliation process is unclear, nor is it clear how members of Congress will react to having programs — potentially major ones — in their districts impacted. It’s also uncertain when the FY26 budget might actually be delivered to Congress. (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
18 Feb 25. Battle of Iwo Jima: 80 Years Later, Lessons Learned.
The Battle of Iwo Jima took place from Feb. 19, 1945 to March 26, 1945.
The island, only 8 square miles in area, was considered crucial to the strategy of the Pacific campaign because capturing it would put heavy bombers within a close 750-mile strike range of mainland Japan using the island’s three airfields.
The task for doing this fell to the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine divisions, the Army’s 147th Infantry Regiment and the Navy’s 5th Fleet.
The invasion fleet consisted of about 70,000 Marines, around 450 naval ships of various types, as well as several thousand Navy Seabees. The Seabees were naval engineers who were experts at building roads and would be needed to reopen the island’s three airfields.
Over the course of the battle, the Marines suffered more than 25,000 casualties, including nearly 7,000 deaths. The casualty rate was so high that the regiment landed a month later to help with mopping-up operations.
Some lessons can be gleaned from the battle.
First, boots on the ground matter.
Plans to capture Iwo Jima unfolded, June 15, 1944, with Army Air Forces and Navy bombardment of the volcanic island. This continued on and off again right up until and after the invasion.
Battleships blasted the island for three days prior to the invasion, pulverizing almost the entire island.
The bombardment by the Americans of Iwo Jima had relatively little effect on about 21,000 Japanese troops holed up underground. In fact, the heavy bombs created numerous craters that proved to be advantageous to the defenders, providing additional cover for them while slowing the Marines’ advance.
Marine Corps Gen. Holland “Howlin’ Mad” Smith, commander of Task Force 56 during the battle, said of the pre-invasion bombardment, “All this added up to a terrific total of destructive effort, which the uninitiated might expect to blast any island off the military map, level every defense, no matter how strong and wipe out the garrison. But nothing of the kind happened. Like the worm, which becomes stronger the more you cut it up, Iwo Jima thrived on our bombardment. The airfields were kept inactive by our attacks and some installations were destroyed, but the main body of defenses not only remained physically intact, but they strengthened markedly.”
It would take Marines on the ground to secure the island.
Second, a good defense can have a deleterious impact on an amphibious operation.
Despite the heavy and sustained bombardment of the island, the Japanese had their own defensive plans, which included about 11 miles of tunnels and underground rooms for command and control and other functions.
To make matters worse for the Americans, many of the tunnels were located on the slopes of Mount Suribachi. The Japanese directed artillery, small arms and mortar fire from openings downward on U.S. troops landing on the beaches and advancing inland with great difficulty on the slippery slopes of black volcanic sand, with little to no cover.
The Japanese had learned from their suicidal charges on Guadalcanal in 1942 and 1943 that this tactic resulted in unacceptably high casualty rates. In April 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, the Japanese used the same tactic of digging in as they did on Iwo Jima.
Third, the battle proved how a fanatically loyal enemy would fight to the death rather than surrender.
Despite efforts to get the Japanese to surrender, only 216 were taken prisoner, and about 18,000 were killed. The rest were presumed dead.
By the time of the Battle of Iwo Jima and after, Japanese aviators were flying kamikaze, or suicide missions, against allied naval vessels; such was their fanatical loyalty.
Other Iwo Jima Factoids:
• Navy Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said of the Battle of Iwo Jima, “Among the Americans who served on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.”
• There were 27 Medals of Honor presented to those who fought there.
• Nimitz also said, “If there had been any question whether there should be a Marine Corps after this war, the Battle of Iwo Jima will assure that there will always be a Marine Corps.”
• One of the most iconic images of World War II was taken by The Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal. His photograph captured six Americans raising the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima on Feb. 23, 1945. Marine Sgt. Bill Genaust, who was standing beside Rosenthal, captured the same moment on video. Genaust was killed March 4, 1945, by Japanese fire while clearing a tunnel.
• For decades, Genaust’s video was played at the beginning of newsreels or when TV stations came on in the morning and went off the air at night.
• The image of the flag raising was so powerful that it was featured on a U.S. postage stamp and a large statue of the flag raising is featured at the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.
• Medal of Honor recipient Marine Corps Pfc. Jack Lucas returned to Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1985, 40 years after the start of the invasion. He met a Japanese veteran of that battle that day. Lucas told him, “We can be friends now.” The Japanese veteran replied, “Yes, friends. No more war. Peace is good.”
• Although the battle officially ended March 26, 1945, sporadic fighting continued until the war ended on Aug. 15, 1945. Two Japanese holdouts hid in the island’s caves and tunnels until they finally surrendered in 1949.
• Many books were written, and movies were made about the Battle of Iwo Jima. Three of those films are the 1949 “Sands of Iwo Jima,” starring actors John Wayne and Forrest Tucker, and two 2006 movies directed by Clint Eastwood, “Letters from Iwo Jima” and “Flags of Our Fathers.”
• The U.S. returned Iwo Jima to Japanese control in 1968. Today, the Japan Maritime, Ground and Air Self-Defense Forces maintain a presence on the island.
• Japan is now one of America’s most important allies. (Source: U.S. DoD)
18 Feb 25. Brown: Build the Force by Being Seen. The military has no plans to bring back conscription as the all-volunteer force has served the United States well for decades, said Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
At the end of January 1973, then-Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird announced the military would, going forward, fill its ranks exclusively with volunteers rather than draftees. Since then, Brown said the military has found the decision to be a good one.
There are challenges in building a force with volunteers only.
The COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, shut down many schools, creating new barriers for recruiters to meet with enlistment-aged students. Competition with the private sector for talent has also made it harder for the military to attract new service members. A decline in the number of veterans — about 18% of Americans in 1980 versus about 7% today — has meant there are fewer former service members who are able to talk about the value of military service.
During a Feb. 15, 2025, discussion at the Munich Security Forum in Germany, Brown said the military is meeting its recruiting numbers despite those challenges. However, to continue being successful, the military must make itself more well-known to the civilian community, as many Americans have no connection to it.
“What we have to do is actually get out and be seen as a military,” Brown said. “As I came in as the chairman, one of the things I laid out as one of my expectations is that trust is the foundation of our profession, and that trust starts with what we do to support our service members, but it’s also how we engage with our communities.”
Service members come from across the nation, but there are pockets in the U.S. where military bases exist, for instance, that produce more new volunteers than other places. The department must work to encourage more young Americans from other parts of the country to volunteer, which means engagement and building trust.
“The connection with the community is something we have to strive to do so we can actually engage with young people,” he said. “But not just with young people, but their influencers. Whether it’s their parents, their coaches, their scout leaders, their … church leaders, that can point them in the direction. But we also have to talk about the opportunities that are available by serving.”
Being seen, Brown said, provides perhaps the biggest boost to knowledge of military service and its value.
“We’ve got to be seen and engaged with our communities,” he said. “When our community gets a chance to meet our service members, they’re so impressed. We’ve got to make that opportunity happen. And so, part of that is making sure that our service members get off the base and engage in the communities so they can be seen as well.” (Source: U.S. DoD)
14 Feb 25. Black Hawk crew in DC crash may have missed key air traffic messages. A U.S. Army Black Hawk crew may not have heard critical air traffic control messages instructing it to fly behind the commercial regional jet it ultimately collided with midair at Reagan National Airport in Washington on Jan. 29, the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.
Additionally, the helicopter crew may have received inaccurate altitude data inside the cockpit, NTSB officials said at a media briefing at NTSB headquarters about the ongoing investigation.
The on-scene investigation of the collision of the American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, and a UH-60 on a flight over the Potomac River has concluded, Jennifer Homendy, NTSB chair, said. The investigation will continue off-site in various labs and other secure locations.
When the aircraft collided, the fuselage of the commercial jet broke apart in three places and was discovered inverted in waist-deep water in the Potomac. The helicopter wreckage was found nearby. All 64 people aboard the passenger jet and all three Army crew members aboard the Black Hawk — Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Loyd Eaves, Cpt. Rebecca M. Lobach and Staff Sgt. Ryan Austin O’Hara — were killed.
When asked if there was any indication the Black Hawk crew could see the impending collision in the seconds before impact, Homendy said NTSB investigators “do not have any indication” that the crew would have seen it.
Homendy also said it is now believed the helicopter crew were likely wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight because the check-out flight for the pilot was particularly focused on testing their ability to fly with the goggles.
“Had they been removed, the crew was required to have a discussion about going unaided,” Homendy said. “There is no evidence on the cockpit voice recorder, or CVR, of such a discussion.”
The NTSB will be conducting a visibility study to see what the crew would have been able to see or not see using night vision goggles leading up to the collision, according to Homendy.
Messages ‘may not have been received’
About two minutes before the collision, at approximately 8:46 p.m. local time, a radio transmission from the tower could be heard on the commercial jet’s CVR informing the Black Hawk that just south of the Wilson Bridge was a jet at 1,200 feet circling to its designated runway, according to Homendy.
Data from the Black Hawk’s CVR “indicated that the portion of the transmission stating the [jet] was circling may not have been received by the Black Hawk crew,” Homendy said.
“We hear the word ‘circling’ in ATC [air traffic control] communications, but we do not hear the word ‘circling’ on the CVR of the Black Hawk. The [NTSB] Recorders Group is evaluating this right now,” she added.
About seven seconds later, the Black Hawk crew responded to air traffic control that they “had the traffic in sight.”
Twenty seconds before the crash, “a radio transmission from the tower is audible on both CVRs asking the Black Hawk crew if the [jet] was in sight,” Homendy said. “Audible in the ATC radio transmission was a conflict alert in the background.”
The traffic alert and collision avoidance system on the jet received an automated traffic advisory “stating ‘traffic, traffic,’” she noted.
Three seconds later, a radio transmission from the tower could be heard in both CVRs directing the Black Hawk to pass behind the jet.
“CVR data from the Black Hawk indicated that the portion of the transmission that stated ‘pass behind the’ may not have been received by the Black Hawk crew,” Homendy said. “Transmission was stepped on by a 0.8 second mic key from the Black Hawk. The Black Hawk was keying the mic to communicate with ATC.”
The helicopter instructor pilot can be heard telling the pilot flying that “they believe ATC was asking for the helicopter to move left toward the east bank of the Potomac,” Homendy added.
‘Bad data’
Preliminary investigations are showing the pilot of the Black Hawk, flying 1.1 nautical miles west of the Key Bridge at approximately 8:43 p.m., indicated the altitude was 300 feet. The instructor pilot indicated the aircraft was at 400 feet.
The maximum ceiling altitude at Key Bridge is 300 feet above the terrain.
“At this time, we don’t know why there was a discrepancy between the two,” Homendy said. “That’s something that the investigative team is analyzing.”
At approximately 8:44 p.m., the instructor pilot indicated the Black Hawk was flying at 300 feet and descending to 200 feet as it approached the Key Bridge.
As the Black Hawk continued south passing over Memorial Bridge at approximately 8:45 p.m., the instructor pilot told the pilot flying that the aircraft was at 300 feet and needed to descend, according to Homendy. The maximum ceiling for flying south of Memorial Bridge is 200 feet.
“The pilot flying said they would descend to 200 feet.”
The radio altitude of the Black Hawk upon impact with the jet was 278 feet, which it had held for the previous five seconds, Homendy said.
“We’re confident with the radio altitude of the Black Hawk at the time of the collision, that was 278 feet, but I want to caution that does not mean that’s what the Black Hawk crew was seeing on the barometric altimeters in the cockpit,” she said. “We are seeing conflicting information in the data, which is why we aren’t releasing altitude for the Black Hawk’s entire route.”
According to Sean Payne, NTSB Vehicle Recorder Division branch chief, radio altitude is gathered by bouncing a signal from the helicopter to the ground.
“This is good data,” he said.
However, radio altitude isn’t the “primary means” the helicopter pilots would have used to determine their height during flight, Payne said.
“It is often different from what they see on their primary altimeters.”
Barometric altitude that pilots use while flying was not recorded on the flight data recorder, or FDR, also known as the black box. The barometric pressure setting was also not recorded.
Pressure altitude is also something that helicopter systems “can tap into,” Payne said. “We have found that this parameter is not valid,” Payne said, referring to it as “bad data.”
“We are working to determine if this bad data for pressure altitude only affected the FDR or if it was more pervasive through the helicopter’s other systems.”
The investigation will provide answers to what altitude the pilots saw in their gages as they were flying, according to Payne.
The lab is working with Sikorsky, Black Hawk’s maker, and Collins Aviation, which handles avionic systems, and the Army to understand how the bad information could have affected other systems, he said.
Payne said the wreckage of the helicopter also needs to be examined, including the remains of pitot-static and air data systems, which he said will be difficult as the systems were “badly damaged” in the collision.
The lab will also look at the altimeters themselves to determine independent functionality, he noted.
“I’d like to stress that we’ve just completed the on-scene phase of the investigation,” he said. “We need to follow our process and be meticulous. Ultimately, this work will determine the altitude displayed to the pilots and will be included in our final report.” (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)
14 Feb 25. Increased Funding for SOF up front at 2025 Imperatives Forum. Special Operations Leaders and key members of Congress discussed challenges and opportunities for U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) in the context of an annual imperatives document published each year. The Global SOF Foundation (GSOF) released the ‘2025 SOF Imperatives’ during a virtual forum on 12 February, with a call to double SOF investment in order to “maintain a decisive advantage in an increasingly complex and competitive global landscape.”
“We are witnessing a growing convergence of ruthless regimes working to undermine the free world,” said Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). “As we navigate this complex environment, there is one thing that is sure, our Special Operations Forces will play a very decisive role in shaping the outcome of this competition. SOF are an extension of our military power and a critical pillar of our national security strategy. Our men and women in SOF provide a unique ability to operate in diverse environments, often in politically sensitive or denied areas where our traditional conventional forces either can’t go or should not be seen.”
Gen. Bryan Fenton, Commander of U.S. Special Operations (USSOCOM) joined the forum to stress that USSOCOM has a unique lens into the dangerous global security environment. First due to their remit as a global combatant command with thousands of SOF deployed to 80 or more countries, and second, due to the network of reporting that comes from long-time SOF partners and allies, as well as new SOF relationships. Fenton also sees an unsettling convergence of competitors around the globe.
“In isolation, our foes present complicated challenges, but more concerning to us, and as reported by our teammates across the globe, is an unprecedented level of convergence. The convergence we’re seeing is what we call a Fusion of Foes. For example, where it was once only Russia against Ukraine. It’s now Russia … plus Iran … plus North Korea, and the PRC teamed up against Ukraine, providing Russia with material support in terms of hardware and software, and the case of the North Koreans, even humans,” said Fenton.
To meet existing and converging threats, USSOCOM conducts special operations in three distinct mission areas; Crisis Response, the sacred obligation to rescue hostages and safeguard diplomats abroad, Counterterrorism Operations to sustain pressure on terrorist networks globally, and Strategic Competition, action below the threshold of conflict to blunt PRC, Russia and Iran’s malicious objectives.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) offered that Congress is ready to support USSOCOM.
“In Congress, it’s going to be up to me and my colleagues to ensure that our special operators are provided with the tools, capabilities, resources and the authorities to execute missions required for this error of great power competition. We must ensure that the special operations enterprise is harnessing the new capabilities afforded by advances in emerging technologies, from non-traditional ISR platforms to AI enabled data and intelligence collection processing and all the exploitation that goes along with that,” said Rep. Jackson.
More investment in AI computing power infrastructure and rapid innovation are imperative for USSOCOM.
“To keep pace with our adversaries, we must invest in cutting edge data centers, continuously upgrade the security of our data and invest in robust power generation,” said Fenton. “Investing in AI without focusing on infrastructure of power compute, would be like dropping a new engine into a race car without tires. We won’t just fall behind. We won’t even be in the race.”
The battlefield innovation cycle is rapidly shrinking. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 saw an innovation cycle that turned in months. Now battlefield advances from software to hardware or getting fully developed AI driven drones to autonomous ground units takes weeks.
Fenton called for the most innovative companies to be empowered to offer creative solutions to warfighters.
“Capital exists in the private sector and can be pointed toward these challenges to allow for the rapid iteration and scale needed. By communicating capability gaps, to the private sector we can unlock innovation and turn it into capability and capacity,” said Fenton.
The forum discussion also highlighted efforts around the country to support SOF. In San Diego, home to Naval Special Warfare, Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) has led an effort to get hundreds of ms of dollars focused on mitigating sewage contamination from Mexico into the waters off California that was directly impacting the health and welfare of Naval Forces, in particular the training and readiness of U.S. Navy SEALs.
Peters also leads efforts to focus on supporting service members and their family while on active duty and when they transition to civilian life.
“We have about 225,000 vets in our county, so we understand the importance of a successful transition and how that helps the communities receiving service members and their families. In 2023 the NDAA included language that the SOF Caucus co-chairs inserted that requires the Government Accountability Office to study DoD’s transition assistance program. We built this language with help from GSOF, and that report was just released,” said Peters.
Jackson closed with a discussion about the SOF Caucus on Capitol Hill. A collection of SOF supporters who educate other members of Congress on the importance of SOF.
“Without the SOF community at the tip of the spear, leading the fight in great power competition, we will not be able to set the conditions for the next conflict and prevail,” said Jackson.
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