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  • Nuclear Issues in Strategic Competition

    The rise of strategic competition as the defining feature of the contemporary strategic environment has renewed the discussion of the threats posed by nuclear states. China, Russia, and North Korea are all nuclear powers, and Iran has aspirations in this area. Yet each of these states poses

  • SOF's Integrative Role in Coalition Operations

    USSOCOM maintains ties to allied and partner SOF, but does that SOF partner network require transformation and adjustment for better effectiveness in strategic competition? What specific roles should SOF prioritize developing within the current strategic environment with respect to strategic

  • Wargaming for Competitive Statecraft

    The terms wargaming, simulations, and practica can all be used to describe similar operational exercises that are focused on providing decision support to various courses of action. Each term is used by a different audience: military (wargaming), interagency (simulation), and academe (practica).

  • Generational Differences

    Distinct characteristics, values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors are often associated with individuals from different generations. These differences arise from societal, cultural, technological, and economic factors that shape people’s experiences as they grow and develop. Generational

  • SOF Educational Foci

    Formal education programs for SOF practitioners are available at several different military educational institutions. There are service-specific schools as well as joint educational opportunities. Is current education and training adequate to prepare for strategic competition? Is the content,

  • Ethical Performance and Moral Injury

    The SOE and SOF hold themselves to a high standard of ethical performance. This is important not only to preserve the trust of the nation, but also to protect the force from moral injuries. How can SOF leadership best identify, address, and learn from ethical lapses? Are there metrics that can be

  • Technological Undermatch

    The ‘American way of war’ is typically used to describe the United States’ use of exquisite technology combined with limited numbers of highly trained personnel to fight its conflicts, rather than relying, as other countries sometimes do, on relatively low-technology

  • Human/Technology Interface

    The human/technology interface encompasses the ways in which humans engage with and utilize technology to enhance their capabilities, perform tasks more efficiently, and achieve desired outcomes. The interface can range from simple physical interactions, such as pressing buttons or using touch

  • Intelligence in Strategic Competition

    Since the Office of Strategic Services in WWII, intelligence and SOF have had a closely linked history. How have the last two decades shaped the way the SOF intelligence practitioner thinks about intelligence? Within strategic competition, are there new intelligence challenges that SOF is

  • Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning in Misinformation and Disinformation

    Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), to include the widespread promulgation of easily accessible large language models (LLM), appear to be ushering in a new era of misinformation and disinformation. What impact will AI/ML have on the speed at which misinformation and