Curated news, analysis, and commentary about special operations, national security, and conflicts around the world.
Photo / Image: U.S. Army Paratroopers assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, descend onto Frida Drop Zone, Pordenone, Italy after exiting U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft from the 86th Air Wing during airborne operation on Nov. 16, 2022. The 173rd Airborne Brigade is the U.S. Army Contingency Response Force in Europe, capable of projecting ready forces anywhere in the U.S. European, Africa or Central Commands’ areas of responsibility. (U.S. Army photo by Paolo Bovo)
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SOF News
Green Beret is the New US Ambassador to Mexico. Ronald Johnson, a former Green Beret and CIA officer, has formally presented his credentials to Mexico’s president. This comes at a time that there is increased likelihood that the U.S. will enter the fight against the drug cartels and with difficult trade negotiations on the horizon. Johnson has a deep background in Latin America affairs. “New US ambassador to Mexico formally arrives at a time of busy binational agenda”, Stars and Stripes, May 20, 2025.
Pay Raise for Paratroopers. The Department of Defense announced that hazardous duty incentive pay (jump pay) will increase from $150 a month to $200. Jumpmasters will receive an additional $150 per month on top of the jump incentive pay they already earn.
Prince on Contract in DRC. Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater and former Navy SEAL, has entered into an agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to secure and tax its mineral resources. “Blackwater to secure and tax DR Congo’s vast mineral wealth”, Military Africa, April 30, 2025.
Skyraider II. The OA-1K Skyraider II is a light attack and special operations aircraft developed for USSOCOM. It is part of the “Armed Overwatch” program that will provide CAS, strike, and ISR for SOF units on the ground. Read more in “Skyraider II: Punching Above Its Weight“, Grey Dynamics, May 21, 2025.
New CJCS. An Air Force pilot was taken out of retirement to head up the U.S. military. He has a SOF background which could have impact on the future of the SOF community. “General Dan Caine: Who is the New Head of the US War Machine?”, Grey Dynamics, May 23, 2025.
SOF – One Size Fits All? Special operations forces are sometimes viewed as the solution for many problems. SOF comprise about 3 percent of the active duty force but it receives more than its share of publicity and missions. “Special operations are becoming the Pentagon’s future normal”, Defense One, May 19, 2025.
Help Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel with spine injuries receive the healthcare options, education, and care they need.
US Space Forces has a Special Operations Command. A dedicated component within USSOCOM will be providing a crucial role in supporting elite ground units with the integration of space-based expertise. “US Space Force setting up its own Special Operations Command”, Futurewwartech, May 3, 2025.
CIA’s SAC. The United States has a group of highly trained operators known as the Special Activities Staff, which is controlled by the Central Intelligence Agency. Over the years, this unit has gone through several name changes, starting as the Special Activities Division (SAD) and most recently being referred to as the Special Activities Center (SAC). Read more in “Special Activities Center (SAC): CIA’s unit for tactical paramilitary operations”, Combat Operators.com, April 4, 2025.
UK Looking for New Commando Insertion Craft. The UK Ministry of Defence has issued a formal procurement pipeline notice for the Commando Insertion Craft (CIC) programme. This is part of the wider transformation of the Royal Marines under the Command Force initiative. “MOD issues procurement update on Commando Insertion Craft”, UK Defence Journal, May 23, 2025.
CIA and Tibetian Resistance. The last surviving CIA officer who trained Tibetan resistance fighters at a secret camp in the United States is interviewed about the project. At least 259 Tibetian fighters were trained at “The Ranch” (Camp Hale, Colorado) for Operation ST Circus. “Inside the CIA’s secret role in the Tibetian resistance”, Radio Free Asia, October 29, 2024.
Video – Commandos – The Future of Modern Warfare?, Royal Marines, March 2025, YouTube, 8 minutes. Royal Marines Commandos demonstrate the evolution of amphibious operations in this short film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhCN7jn4CTE
Ukraine Conflict
Trump on Putin: “I’m not happy with what Putin is doing. He’s killing a lot of people and I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin. I’ve known him a long time … we’re in the middle of talking and he’s shooting rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don’t like it at all. I’m surprised.”
Pentagon Ukraine Office to be Downgraded? A policy office that is instrumental to the U.S. military’s response to the Russian aggression in Ukraine could be shifted to another office – in what appears to be a demotion. “Pentagon Ukraine hub could see downgrade in policy office reshuffle”, Defense News, May 23, 2025.
Podcast on Drones. “Throughout the ongoing war in Ukraine, Kyiv has overcome its shortfalls in traditional munitions through the effective use of cheap, mass-produced drones. Moscow has followed suit”. Samuel Bendett, an advisor at the Russian Studies Program of the Center for Naval Analysis, is interviewed on this topic. Listen to “Droning On: How Ukraine and Russia Have Revolutionized Drone Warfare”, National Interest, May 19, 2025, 14 minutes.
Who Makes Russia’s Drones? Migrant women are being exploited for Russia’s war economy. Lured to Russia by promises of a work-study program, women from Africa and elsewhere are finding themselves in a factory working long hours making drones for Russia’s war against Ukraine. “Who is making Russia’s drones?”, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, May 8, 2025.
400 M113 APCs to Ukraine. Italy will reportedly supply Ukraine with a huge armored vehicle package of APCs – nearly 2/3s of its stored fleet. This will double Ukraine’s existing M113 APC force.
- References:
- Interactive Map. Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine by the Insitute for the Study of War and Critical Threats. On storymaps.arcgis.com See also https://www.national-security.info/ukraine/maps.html
- U.S. Security Assistance to Ukraine, Congressional Research Service, CRSIF12040, periodically updated, PDF, 3 pages. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12040
- Ukraine Conflict, National Security Info. https://www.national-security.info/ukraine-conflict.html
National Security
Military IDs, REAL IDs, and Air Travel. Military-connected travelers will be able to board domestic flights by showing their military ID. This includes IDs issued to dependents. According to this news report, this includes those IDs of retired miliary even if they do not have an expiration date. The Defense Department is in the process of replacing some of the older military IDs with the NextGen ID. “TSA trained to accept military IDs in lieu of REAL IDs, officials say”, Military Times, May 21, 2025.
MAVEN, GeoInt, and Targeting. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is rolling out its AI-powered imagery analysis software system to more users. The NGA MAVEN software has demonstrated a sizable reduction in targeting times in exercises. “AI unchained: NGAs Maven tool significantly decreasing time to targeting, agency chief says”, Breaking Defense, May 22, 2025.
Rise and Fall of GPC. In 2017, under the first Trump administration, Great Power Competition returned. It would later be termed Strategic Competition. However, with the beginning of the second Trump administration it seems to be fading away. Read more in “The Rise and Fall of Great-Power Competition: Trump’s New Spheres of Influence”, by Stacie E. Goddard, Foreign Affairs, May-June 2025 (subscription).
Nordic-Baltic Eight – A New Security Alliance. Northern European countries are strengthening their defense ties in response to the Russian threat. The Nordic and Baltic countries are discouraged by the European Union’s slow response to the crisis posed by Russian aggression in Europe. Russia’s war against Ukraine is a warning to the countries that border Russia – especially those with Russian ethnic minorities within their borders. Russia has increasingly been provoking Europe through inflammatory rhetoric and military posturing. In response to this threat the five Nordic and three Baltic countries are developing a common purpose and a regional bloc deeply concerned with their own defensive posture and united in the belief that Ukraine deserves more assistance. “The Nordic-Baltic Eight: A new security actor?”, by Stefan Hedlun, GIS Reports Online, May 13, 2025.
New DoD Press Secretary. Kingsley Wilson, age 26, will serve as the Press Secretary for the Department of Defense. She has previously served as Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary. She has a background in digital media and communications and has been a long-time supporter of President Trump and causes associated with the MAGA movement. She has a large following on her Twitter and podcast accounts. In the last 4 or 5 months the DoD has only held one press briefing, so maybe things might pick up a bit.
Pentagon Press Corps Reigned In. The Pentagon just updated physical control measures imposed on reporters covering the Pentagon (The Hill, May 23, 2025). The Pentagon Press Association had some strong and scathing statments about that: “There is no way to sugarcoat it. Today’s memo by Secretary Hegseth appears to be a direct attack on the freedom of the press and America’s right to know what its military is doing.”
NSC Staffers Sent Home. Late on Friday afternoon, minutes before a three-day holiday weekend, over 100 National Security Council staffers received an email lhat they had 30 minutes to clean out their desks as they were being put out on administrative leave. With Mike Waltz fired and sent off to be the Ambassador to the United Nations, the downsizing and reshuffling of the NSC was sure to happen. “Multiple National Security Council staffers put on administrative leave”, CNN, May 23, 2025.
USIP Staff Back to Work (For Now). In February 2025 President Trump issued an executive order that led to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) firing of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) board and employees. They were fired in March when DOGE entered the ISIP building and escorted them off the premises. DOGE installed new leadership, ordered a mass firing of nearly all the staf, and handed over the building to the General Services Administration. A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration did not have authority to unilaterally dismantle the institute as it was established by Congress in 1984. “Institute of Peace reclaims its headquarters after court win over Musk’s cost-cutting team”, Associated Press, May 21, 2025.
Information Operations and Cyber Warfare
SOCOM Model for Cyber Command. Congress is considering the idea of a separate cyber force while the Pentagon is looking for a different solution. Lt. Gen. William Hartman of CYBERCOM believes that the US Special Operations Command model is the best one to follow. “Amid lawmaker concerns, CYBERCOM head says SOCOM-like model is best way forward”, by Carley Welch, Breaking Defense, May 16, 2025.
U.S. House Members Concerned on U.S. Cyber Readiness. Members of Congress from both parties are expressing profound unease about the Trump administration’s management of the military’s cyber operations. “Cyber Command Turmoil Vexes House Armed Services Members”, Military.com, May 19, 2025.
“Intelligence Community Data Consortium”. The government is building a centralized platform where intelligence agencies can buy private information about millions of people. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is working on a system to centralize the use of “commercially available information” (CAI) – like the location data derived from mobile ads on cellphones – sometimes called AdTech or MAID data (Wikipedia). “U.S. Spy Agencies Are Getting a One-Stop Shop to Buy Your Most Sensitive Personal Data”, The Intercept, May 22, 2025.
Narrative Warfare. Emily Weinzheimer writes on how narratives will sway how a society views events – sometimes affecting the outcome of conflicts. Read her essay entitled “Conflict Narratives: How Narratives Impacted the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas Conflicts“, Small Wars Journal, May 21, 2025.
Kremlin Narratives, Blogs, and ChatGPT. Pro-Russian narratives are proliferating on internet blogs creating an overwhelming presence online. They are targeted toward viewers around the globe – most with the theme of blaming NATO for the Ukraine conflict. “The new wave of Russian disinformation blogs”, UK Defence Journal, May 18, 2025.
Old Salt Coffee is a corporate sponsor of SOF News. The company offers a wide range of coffee flavors to include Green Eyes Coffee, a tribute to those Navy special operations personnel who operate in the night.
Afghanistan, ME, Africa, Latin America
TPS for Afghans Finished? The Trump administration claims Afghans in the U.S. under temporary protected status no longer meet the threshold for protection. Unfortunately, many of those that the U.S. flew to U.S. bases in the Middle East on military aircraft during the Kabul airlift of August 2021 are in fear of reprisals from the Taliban for their association with the U.S. military. Some critics of granting TPS to Afghans who fled the Taliban say they are security risks; however, they are unaware of the detailed vetting process for Afghans brought into the country during Operation Enduring Welcome. Read more in “These brave Afghans helped the U.S. after 9/11. Now the U.S. wants to deport them”, MSNBC, May 3, 2025.
Veterans Disappointed. The administration claims conditions in Afghanistan have markedly improved under Taliban rule. Those who fought in the war say that’s ‘laughable’. It is widely believed that any wartime allies of the U.S. that are forced to return to Afghanistan will certainly face reprisal by the Taliban. “Veterans recoil at Trump plan to end Afghans deportation protection”, The Washington Post, May 25, 2025. (subscription)
Chad Opposition Leader Arrested. The former prime minister and opposition leader Succes Masra was recently arrested at his residence in N’Djamena, Chad. His arrest follows violence that left over 40 people dead. Human Rights Watch has called for his release. “HRW calls for immediate release of Chad oppostion leder amid crackdown on dissent”, Jurist News, May 18, 2025.
Islamic State Threatens Nigeria’s Northeast. The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has increased its insurgent activity since January 2025 across the Borno State. ISWAP’s tactical sophistication and adaptability is growing. “The Islamic State West Africa Province’s Tactical Evolution Fuels Worsening Conflict in Nigeria’s Northeast”, The Soufan Center, May 21, 2025.
New West Africa CT Force. Countries in west Africa are launching plans to establish a “regional counter-terrorism force” that will operate against jihadist groups that have been increasing more active in recent years. “W. Africa Bloc Looks to Regional Force As Jihadist Attacks Spike”, Barrons.com May 21, 2025.
PKK and Turkey. On May 12, 2025, the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) announced its disbandment. This ends the more than 40-year struggle against Turkey. There are wide ranging implications ahead. “The dissolution of the PKK could transform Turkey’s domestic politics and foreign policy”, Chatham House, May 22, 2025.
Haiti – Terror Groups Designated. The Trump administration has designated two Haitian gangs as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). The designations bar gang members from accessing U.S. financial institutions. There is concern, however, that the designations could affect how humanitarian aid is distributed. Read more in “Haiti Struggles with Criminal Insurgency as U.S. Designates Gangs as Terror Groups”, The Soufan Center, May 22, 2025.
Books, Podcasts, Videos, and Movies
Video – The Army’s Grueling Mountain Warfare School, Business Insider, May 15, 2025, 56 minutes. This video provides details on the Army Mountain Warfare School located in Jericho, Vermont. Soldiers are trained on mountaineering, cold weather skills, and high elevation tactics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGtgoelN0tA
Funny Video about a Navy SEAL. A standup comic, Trish Suhr, jokes about her younger brother who is a SEAL. “When Your Brother is a Navy SEAL”, Dry Bar Comedy, Fall 2024, YouTube, 5 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ah3iujikhg
Podcast – How America’s Special Operators are Preparing for a High-Tech Future, War on the Rocks, May 19, 2025, 19 minutes. During SOF Week 2025 Lt. Gen. Frank Donovan, vice commander of USSOCOM, spoke on how U.S. SOF are leading the way on the future of warfare.
https://warontherocks.com/2025/05/how-americas-special-operators-are-preparing-for-a-high-tech-future/
Book Review – Life and Death at Abbey Gate. Sean R. Kentch has reviewed a book that details the fall of Afghanistan and the Digital Dunkirk operation to save the Afghan allies that assisted the U.S. military during the U.S. involvement in the Afghan conflict from 2001 to 2021. The review was published on May 20, 2025 by Military Review.
CRS Report – U.S. Army[‘s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW): Dark Eagle, Congressional Research Service (CRS), May 22, 2205, PDF, 3 pages. The Army’s LRHW, a reported range of 1,725 miles, consists of a ground-launched missile equipped with a hypersonic glide body and associated transport, support, and fire control equipment.
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF11991
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