The Global SOF Foundation recently held its SOF Imperatives Forum in Washington, D.C. in February 2020 and released its annual SOF Imperatives Document.
The SOF Imperatives Forum featured a number of discussions and presentations by members of the Senate and House as well as current and former leaders of the special operations community. A common theme was how to find a balance between the mission of countering violent extremism while also shifting focus to the new era of great power competition as directed by the National Defense Strategy.
Included in the congressional representatives were Senator Joni Ernst and Representatives Mike Waltz, Jason Crow, and Scott Peters. Some of the leaders of the SOF community included VADM Tim Szymanski (USSOCOM), Lt Gen James Slife (AFSOC), Lt Gen (Ret) Thomas Trask, and LTG (Ret) John Mulholland. Former ASD’s of SO/LIC were also present and participated in a panel discussion: Michael Lumpkin, Brian Sheridan, and Mark Mitchell.
The Imperatives 2020 Document is distributed to congressional representatives and staffers in order to educate key leaders on specific special operations force topics. The document highlights key issues for U.S. SOF in the areas of strategy; support to operations, training, and readiness; support to the force; maritime, land forces, and aviation.
The Imperatives 2020 Document is 8-pages long and in PDF format. It is available on the Global SOF Foundation website:
https://gsof.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/2020-01-30_GSOF-2020-Imperatives.pdf
**********
The Global Special Operations Forces (SOF) Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that aims to build and grow an international network of military, government, commercial, and educational stakeholders in order to advance SOF capabilties and partnerships to confront global and networked threats. The foundation holds several events a year bringing together senior members of the U.S. and international SOF community.
https://www.gsof.org/
**********
Image: From the front page of the Imperatives 2020 Document.
