Special Operators Try Again To Get More Dough, Control; Battles Likely With Hill And JCS

[unhappycamper]

http://defense.aol.com/2012/11/29/special-operators-try-again-to-get-more-dough-control-battles/




Special Operators Try Again To Get More Dough, Control; Battles Likely With Hill And JCS
By Otto Kreisher
Published: November 29, 2012

WASHINGTON: After a decade of war in which they played a key role and were rewarded with a doubling of their forces and budget, Special Operations leaders want still more -- more people, more money and more authority to decide where their troops go and what they do.

Those goals are likely to clash with the conventional military's traditional lines of authority and the certainty that their force structure and funding will drop as Washington struggles with a soaring national debt.

~snip~

Although the troops under SOCOM have doubled during that decade of war to about 70,000 today, Reid said the command expects to add another 5,000 men to meet the seemingly ever-growing demand for special operators. Those forces, plus a steady demand for more weapons and high-tech equipment, clearly would require more funding in an era of declining defense budgets.

~snip~

The most controversial of McRaven's goals for SOCOM was a quest for the authority to move SOF units to any part of the world where the command sees a looming threat without coordinating with the regional combatant commander, and more direct control over those forces while deployed.