SPECIAL OPERATIONS: RAIDS, RESCUSE, AND RELATIONSHIPS
Course Summary:
This seminar introduces students to U.S. Special Operations as a strategic instrument of national power and explores how (and under what conditions) policymakers turn to Special Operations Forces (SOF) to help solve a spectrum of national security and foreign policy challenges. By the end of the course, students will understand the political, military, and diplomatic risks, challenges, and opportunities involved with strategic decisions to conduct Special Operations in support of the nation’s security.
The professor — who spent 34 years as a Navy SEAL and also served as the Acting Director of National Intelligence — will draw upon his military, leadership, and Cabinet-level experiences to shed light on the implementation of Special Operations; the full range of international, strategic, and tactical risks that are involved in these operations; and how national policymakers have used and sometimes misused or failed to use SOF in their pursuit of foreign policy objectives.