Civil-Military Relations and the Quest for a Global Special Operations Concept

• In Event: Civil-Military Relations

Abstract

As the war in Iraq ended and attention towards Afghanistan faded, U.S. special operations leaders launched the Global Special Operations Network initiative to further expand its bureaucratic power and geographic presence as the U.S. government refocused its attention to China and Russia. Using an extensive collection of primary source documents, a newly developed data set, and the theoretical literature on civil-military relations, I argue that the Global Special Operations Network initiative and similar bureaucratic efforts undermined long-standing norms in American military professionalism and civilian oversight, which contributed to the failed war in Afghanistan, numerous ethical scandals, and led to ineffective security assistance efforts around the globe. Moreover, similar problems have begun to materialize in countries that emulated America’s commando infatuation which could reduce the ability of these states to effectively counter a growing number of regional security threats.

Author

• Stephen Michael Grenier, Johns Hopkins University