JSOC comes out of the shadows, a little
Finally enough books and articles have been written and movies made that the Joint Special Operations Command (“jay-soc”) is coming out of the black, a little. The command, famous for its SEAL Team 6 and Delta Force, and for being the supermen (and some women) of the military, has always hidden behind the veil of secrecy. Partly that’s because its counter-terrorism and hostage rescue missions (and techniques) justified greater level of opaqueness. But partly it is just the habit of asserting that somehow knowing basic facts – any facts – about special operations would harm national security, a claim that no one in a position of power has ever challenged.
Even with a new acknowledgment of its basic mission, JSOC still remains the most secret of all military entities – that and the 1st Capabilities Integration Group which I wrote about earlier. In the world of black ops, as they’re called, JSOC itself has its own levels of secrets. It’s as a warfighting command that the secrecy level is reduced ever so slightly. But as the “national mission force” that takes part in everything from continuity of government to recovering a lost or stolen nuclear weapon, it is still deep black.
The fighting JSOC, the one that has led many of the most sensitive missions in Afghanistan and Iraq (and is still at in in Syria and other places), there seems to be some more openness. This year’s Special Operations Command 2022 Fact Book, just out, says that JSOC “prepares assigned, attached and augmented forces and, when directed, conducts special operations against threats to protect the homeland and U.S. interests abroad.” It might not seem like much, but even admitting that it’s a combat unit is new.
To understand the significance of even this vague description, consider the former way JSOC was described, such as what appeared in the 2019 Fact Book. It stated that JSOC “is charged to study special operations requirements and techniques, ensure interoperability and equipment standardization, plan and conduct Special Operations exercises and training, and develop joint Special Operations tactics.” That’s the same vague description that goes back to the year 2000, when the first Fact Book was published.
That’s still the description that appears on Wikileaks, which says that JSOC: “is charged with studying special operations requirements and techniques to ensure interoperability and equipment standardization; to plan and conduct special operations exercises and training; to develop joint special operations tactics; and to execute special operations missions worldwide.”
And even that upgraded. For example, the 2001 Operational Law Handbook published by the Pentagon stated that JSOC “is a joint command which studies special operations requirements and techniques, ensures interoperability and equipment standardization, plans and conducts joint special operations exercises and training, and develops joint special operations tactics.” Conducts is tucked in there, but it’s a lot of interoperability, standardization, development and training.
The out-of-the-black candidness also extends to the JSOC Intelligence Brigade, which until recently wasn’t even acknowledged as existing as such. The brigade is new described on its official webpage as follows: “The Joint Special Operations Command Intelligence Brigade (JIB) prepares assigned, attached, and augmentation forces, and when directed, provides intelligence support to special operations conducted against threats to protect the Homeland and U.S. interests abroad.” That’s pretty much the same as the overall JSOC description.
I wrote about JSOC with Dana Priest in the Washington Post in 2001, an excerpt taken from our Top Secret America book, and itself focusing on the secrecy: “This secretive group of men (and a few women) has grown tenfold [since 9/11] while sustaining a level of obscurity that not even the CIA has managed. “We’re the dark matter. We’re the force that orders the universe but can’t be seen,” a strapping Navy SEAL, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said in describing his unit.” Of course looking back now the CIA is far more secretive (and shows no signs of becoming more candid).
I’m uncomfortable with all of the bravado and descriptions of killing in the war on terror, especially because Islamic terrorism wasn’t eliminated in two decades of war. (Okay, al Qaeda was decimated and the threat of the mega-terrorist act against the United States was more or less eliminated. But it took more than a decade and the full might of the U.S. military to eliminate an organization of no more than 20,000 people.)
Most important, the exaggeration and the hyper secrecy about JSOC is a psychological operation against the American people. Though intended to keep things secret from adversaries, the secrecy breeds the Hollywood descriptions (and the superman images), pretending that there is a secret organization that can produce instant and guaranteed results. Which there isn’t. And it feeds a domestic fascination (and loathing) about all of the special operations units of the military and the federal government that builds the views that said government is doing all sorts of things against the American people. That’s dangerous for the health of the country.
Coming up soon: The special operations domestic war game that is replacing “Jade Helm.”
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