United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office National Security and International Affairs Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-05-15 monographic deposited born digital 37 p. GA 1.13:NSIAD-97-85 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-85 P0b002ee1803965e8 f:ns97085 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-85 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-85 NSIAD-97-85 Military training Military operations Command and control systems Defense capabilities Combat readiness Human resources utilization MC-130H Helicopter MH-53J Helicopter JCS Status of Resources and Training System Letter Report NSIAD

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined whether the U.S. special operations forces (SOF) are being used in a manner that best supports national security objectives.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) SOF is considered an essential element for achieving U.S. national security objectives; (2) in general, there is a common understanding of and agreement on primary SOF mission priorities between the commanders in chief (CINC) and SOF unit commanders assigned to each of the CINCs, and the CINCs often consider SOF their force of choice for many diverse combat and peacetime missions; (3) however, there is some disparity on the priorities for collateral activities for SOF, such as embassy support and antiterrorism activities; (4) little reliable data is available on the frequency and types of SOF missions that would allow an analysis of SOF missions relative to CINC priorities and regional strategy requirements, and historical data on deployment days for all SOF elements is not available; (5) nevertheless, responses to GAO's questionnaire from almost 200 senior-level officers and enlisted personnel in SOF units indicated that they believe the deployments of SOF units have increased to the point that SOF readiness has been, or threatens to be, degraded; (6) specifically, 60, 56, and 86 percent of the Army, Navy, Air Force respondents to GAO's questionnaire, respectively, said they believe readiness has been, or threatens to be, adversely affected by the current level of unit deployments; (7) in addition, SOF unit leaders believe that SOF are performing some missions that could be handled by conventional forces; (8) opportunities exist to reduce the perceived high pace of operations, according to responses to GAO's questionnaire; (9) there may be opportunities to use conventional forces instead of SOF for some collateral missions, such as embassy support, and for missions that are already the responsibility of conventional forces, such as combat search and rescue; (10) however, without basic, reliable, quantifiable information on the nature and extent of actual SOF missions, the way in which SOF personnel are deployed, and the impact of unit deployments on SOF readiness, the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) cannot identify such opportunities to achieve the appropriate levels of deployment and ensure that SOF are properly used; and (11) therefore, GAO believes that action is needed to complete a system that will allow the: (a) pace of SOF operations to be measured and assessed relative to national security objectives and SOF training needs; and (b) identification of the factors that cause SOF pe* https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-85/html/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-85.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-85/pdf/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-85.pdf GAO/NSIAD-97-85 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-NSIAD-97-85 Letter Report GAO/NSIAD-97-85; Special Operations Forces: Opportunities to Preclude Overuse and Misuse; Military training Military operations Command and control systems Defense capabilities Combat readiness Human resources utilization MC-130H Helicopter MH-53J Helicopter JCS Status of Resources and Training System Title 10 Section 167 Title 10 Section 167(j) 10 U.S.C. 167 10 U.S.C. 167(j) Public Law 99-661