{"id":84774,"date":"2020-10-02T16:21:06","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T16:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/02\/irregular-warfare-strategies-must-move-beyond-special-forces-pentagon-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:32:17","slug":"irregular-warfare-strategies-must-move-beyond-special-forces-pentagon-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/10\/02\/irregular-warfare-strategies-must-move-beyond-special-forces-pentagon-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Irregular warfare strategies must move beyond special forces, Pentagon says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The Pentagon has begun to shift the focus on irregular warfare away from the specific counterterrorism missions of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2018\/05\/16\/heres-how-much-the-us-has-spent-fighting-terrorism-since-911\/\" target=_blank>last two decades<\/a> and toward a broader effort that includes information warfare and gray zone operations, a top special operations official said Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Joe Francescon, deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and combating terrorism, told reporters that the shift is needed to counter China, Russia and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Francescon was speaking as part of a rollout of an unclassified version of the Irregular Warfare annex of the National Defense Strategy. The strategy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/breaking-news\/2018\/01\/19\/national-defense-strategy-released-with-clear-priority-stay-ahead-of-russia-and-china\/\">was rolled out<\/a> Jan. 19, 2018, under then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, but the annex was not completed until early 2019 and took \u201ca long time\u201d to declassify to the point where even the 12-page summary could be shared with the public, Francescon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The goal in releasing the document now is to share a broad sense with allies, Congress and the general public about the thinking behind the department\u2019s shift in how it approaches irregular warfare strategies, before a full-blown conflict emerges. Efforts the department is looking to counter include China\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/opinion\/commentary\/2020\/04\/17\/stop-chinas-predatory-investments-before-the-us-becomes-its-next-victim\/\" target=_blank>use of economic power<\/a> and Russian misinformation campaigns, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2017\/05\/15\/countering-little-green-men-pentagon-special-ops-studies-russia-gray-zone-conflict\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"208\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/russian-commandos.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Countering &#8216;little green men&#8217;: Pentagon special ops studies Russia \u2018gray zone\u2019 conflict<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Pentagon is studying gray zone conflict \u2013 otherwise known as hybrid warfare \u2013 beginning with a focus on Russia and later moving on to study Iran and China.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think it\u2019s important for the United States to characterize, both for us and for our allies, the military, national security impacts of what our adversaries are doing to us in the gray zone space before armed conflict. It can\u2019t just be an armed conflict solution, is what we\u2019re looking at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe believe the increased awareness of our adversaries&#8217; activities is really essential, and it\u2019s a pivotal indicator that we are making progress in this in this space. But I think we\u2019ll always be underprepared\u201d to an extent, given how quickly challenges can change in the modern era, he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biggest impact Francescon said he has seen since the completion of the classified annex is getting key members of Congress to understand that the Pentagon needs flexibility to shift away from the yearslong counterterrorism-focused operations. His hope is that change will be reflected in the department\u2019s next budget request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNaturally, as the way were looking at it right now, we probably expect more of a drawdown in our CT [counterterroism] monies just because that\u2019s where we are not doing these large-scale CT operations in some of these theaters,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re transitioning more to training and education. So you\u2019ll see, hopefully, those budgets ramp up [including] distinct information operations capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s ultimately our goal that we maintain a very cost-effective move towards irregular warfare, not away from CT but in conjunction with the CT drawdown. It\u2019s just more important than ever that we be cost-effective with the very small resources that we do have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In order to avoid a boom-bust cycle of irregular warfare training and capabilities, the document lays out six key goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Break the reactive cycle of investment in information warfare, or IW, capabilities by institutionalizing lessons learned from past conflicts, and preserving a baseline of IW-focused expertise and capabilities.<\/li><li>Sustain IW as a core competency for the entire joint force, not just special operations forces.<\/li><li>Ensure widespread understanding and sufficient expertise in IW.<\/li><li>Ensure its approach to IW becomes more agile and cost-informed by developing and employing resource-sustainable IW capabilities.<\/li><li>Seize the initiative and use IW capabilities proactively to expand the competitive space, defeat our adversaries&#8217; competitive strategies, and prepare for an escalation to conflict, if required.<\/li><li>Organize to foster and sustain unified action in IW with interagency partners as well as key allies and partners.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/2020\/09\/23\/iran-claims-its-drones-shadowed-nimitz-strike-group-in-strait-of-hormuz\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Nimitz1.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Iran claims its drones shadowed Nimitz strike group in Strait of Hormuz<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Iran claims its drones captured images of the aircraft carrier Nimitz transiting the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When asked about real-world implementation, Francescon pointed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/2019\/06\/20\/iran-revolutionary-guard-shoots-down-us-drone-amid-tensions\/\" target=_blank>last year\u2019s downing<\/a> of an American drone by Iran. While Iran claimed the drone was a threat to its airspace, the U.S. cited open-source flight information to dispute that claim; pushing that info out, along information claiming the drone was unarmed, was a win for the kind of irregular tactics on which Francescon is focused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIran shooting down a drone doesn\u2019t necessarily require some sort of military kinetic response back to them. And we\u2019re looking to try to impose and create the menu of items that we have a wide range of options to impose costs on our adversaries to restore the competitive balance to our favor at the end of the day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cProper employment of irregular warfare capabilities looks to proactively shape conditions to the advantage of the United States and our allies, impose costs, and create dilemmas for adversary strategies,\u201d Francescon added. &#8220;Our approach does not require significant new resources to adapt to great power competition, nor does it require violence. Instead, and I think this is important, we\u2019re mixing the full range of our capabilities in creative, dynamic and unorthodox ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo our summary here is going to reassure the American public, our interagency partners, and our global network of allies and partners that we will use all tools at our disposal to compete against revanchist states today, and will be prepared for the crisis of the future as they arise.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Expect counterterrorism funds to draw down and move toward education and training, according to a top official.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":52234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":62,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3288],"class_list":["post-84774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"JHRGTOEAD5B3TOVJJIIDUSVKS4","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2020\/10\/02\/irregular-warfare-strategies-must-move-beyond-special-forces-pentagon-says\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Irregular warfare strategies must move beyond special forces, Pentagon says - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Expect counterterrorism funds to draw down and move toward education and training, according to a top official.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Irregular warfare strategies must move beyond special forces, Pentagon says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Expect counterterrorism funds to draw down and move toward education and training, according to a top official.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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