SECRECY NEWS is an email publication of
the Federation of American Scientists (FAS)
Project on Government Secrecy. It provides
informal coverage of new developments in secrecy,
security and intelligence policies, as well
as links to new acquisitions on the Federation
of American Scientists web site. It
is published 2 to 3 times a week, or as events
warrant. Secrecy
News Article Index
Special operations forces (SOF) are small military units that
employ unconventional methods of warfare. Thousands of U.S.
special operations personnel are deployed in dozens of
countries around the world including, of course, Afghanistan
and Iraq.
But "the unconventional operational methods of SOF create a
chink in their armor not faced by the conventional armed
forces," according to a recent master's thesis by an Air Force
Major: "The nontraditional attire worn by SOF while operating
in enemy territory, rather than traditional uniforms, arguably
results in forfeiture of prisoner of war (POW) status for SOF
under the law of war."
In addressing this legal issue, the author provides a highly
readable introduction to the organization and characteristics
of U.S. special forces, as well as the relevant laws of war.
"The special forces' success in Iraq has ... obscured a more
ominous consequence of their newfound popularity: that
expanding their role in the way [Defense Secretary] Rumsfeld
intends could be very dangerous for U.S. foreign policy,"
writes Jennifer Kibbe of the Brookings Institution.
"Thanks to the vagueness of U.S. law governing covert action, using
the military for such operations is -- at least under one interpretation
of the law -- much easier than using the CIA."
See "The Rise of the Shadow Warriors" by Jennifer D. Kibbe in Foreign
Affairs, March/April 2004.
