United States Special Operations Command > Related Articles

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• 75th Ranger Regiment [r]: Assigned to the Army Special Operations Command of the United States Special Operations Command, a highly skilled, parachute-qualified light infantry unit that conducts raids in uniform (e.g., seizing airfields or destroying strategic targets), and provides perimeter security during direct action by other special operators ^[e]
• AAQ-24 [r]: A Directed Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) active electronic device that uses intense light to dazzle or burn out infrared missile seekers ^[e]
• AAR-54 [r]: Using multiple ultraviolet sensors, this is an missile exhaust detector and alarm ^[e]
• AC-130 [r]: Heavily armed transport aircraft, based on the C-130 Hercules, used to provide air support to special operations forces. ^[e]
• AH-1 Cobra [r]: The first purpose-built U.S. attack helicopter, introduced by the U.S. Army in the Vietnam War; the U.S. Marine Corps still operates a much-modified version ^[e]
• ALE-39 [r]: An obsolete dispenser of electronic warfare expendables (e.g., flares and chaff), to be replaced by the AN/ALE-47 ^[e]
• ALR-93 [r]: Part of the defensive electronics suite for United States Special Operations Command helicopters and fixed-wing transport aircraft, this detects a wide range of radar, and cues a decoy launcher and other countermeasures ^[e]
• AN- [r]: U.S. military nomenclature for electronic equipment, following the Joint Electronics Type Designation System ^[e]
• AVR-2 [r]: A first-and-second generation, obsolescent laser warning receiver ^[e]
• Advanced Force Operations [r]: Clandestine operations, not primarily for Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace, conducted by special operations personnel prior to major combat, but preparing for combat operations (e.g., target selection, guerilla liaison, setting up evasion and escape networks) ^[e]
• Afghanistan War (2001-), major combat phase [r]: During the Afghanistan War (2001-), the period of combat by Afghan ground forces, with U.S. and British air & special operations support, which drove the Taliban and al-Qaeda from their bases, in October through December 2001 ^[e]
• Afghanistan War (2001-) [r]: Beginning on October 7, 2001, in response to the 9-11 attacks, military operations against the Taliban and al-Qaeda by United States and NATO forces ^[e]
• Agency for International Development [r]: U.S. government agency responsible for nonmilitary foreign aid of goods, services, and certain finances, although it does not operate at the highest levels of international finance. May operate assistance and development programs in foreign countries ^[e]
• Ahmed Chalabi [r]: An Iraqi politician, who spent much of his time in exile or in Kurdistan, who has declining influence in the current situation but is still regarded as well-connected ^[e]
• Air Force Special Operations Command [r]: The Air Component of United States Special Operations Command; lineage includes Air Commando units in the Vietnam War ^[e]
• Air Mobility Command [r]: The organization responsible for readiness of United States Air Force transport and air refueling aircraft, which report, for operations, to United States Transportation Command ^[e]
• Air assault [r]: Military operations in which infantry are carried by aircraft onto, or very near, the target, or by parachuting. The aircraft may be helicopters, tilt-rotor aircraft, short-landing transports, or, historically, gliders. ^[e]
• Air campaigns in Cambodia and Laos [r]: U.S. military air operations, both overt and covert, over Cambodia and Laos; some before and most during the 1962-1972 Vietnam War ^[e]
• Air refueling [r]: Transferring fuel from one aircraft to another while both are in flight. ^[e]
• Andrew Exum [r]: A Fellow with the Center for a New American Security, who has done fieldwork in Lebanon, served as a U.S. Army infantry officer in Afghanistan and Iraq, and worked in evaluation for United States Central Command ^[e]
• Army Special Operations Command [r]: A command that trains and prepares U.S. Army special operations personnel, including United States Army Special Forces, and serves as the land forces component of United States Special Operations Command ^[e]
• Attack helicopter [r]: A helicopter equipped with built-in heavy weapons, which has no standard cargo capacity and is used as a "flying tank" in close air support or battlefield air interdiction. ^[e]
• Battle of Tora Bora [r]: A battle of the Afghanistan War (2001-), in which allied special operations forces, principally using Afghan troops, attempted to kill or capture an escaping Osama bin Laden ^[e]
• Battlefield air interdiction [r]: Air warfare intended to support ground troops, not by direct firepower but interfering with enemy supplies, reinforcements and communications ^[e]
• C-130 Hercules [r]: An extremely successful (in production for over 50 years) medium-range military transport aircraft with an extremely wide range of variants, including tanker, special operations and C3I-ISR, and ski-equipped LC-130. ^[e]
• C. Christine Fair [r]: Political scientist, specializing in South Asian military affairs, for the RAND Corporation; author of Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations ^[e]
• C3I-ISR [r]: Command, control, communications and intelligence, combined with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance ^[e]
• CH-47 Chinook [r]: Medium transport helicopter developed by the U.S. Army and used by a wide range of countries ^[e]
• CIA activities in Iran [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Cambodia [r]: A country of Southeast Asia, on the Gulf of Thailand, sharing borders with Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos ^[e]
• Central Intelligence Agency [r]: The principal civilian intelligence organization of the United States, specializing in all-source intelligence analysis, clandestine human-source intelligence, and covert action. ^[e]
• Chief of Staff of the Army [r]: Uniformed professional head of the United States Army, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and of four-star general rank ^[e]
• Clandestine human-source intelligence and covert action [r]: Intelligence and military special operations functions that either should be completely secret (i.e., clandestine: the existence of which is not known outside the relevant government circles), or simply cannot be linked to the sponsor (i.e., covert: it is known that sabotage is taking place, but its sponsor is unknown). ^[e]
• Clandestine operation [r]: Any of a range of activities, intended to affect the behavior of a target nation or non-national actor, where the performing actor takes all practical efforts to ensure that the fact of the activities do not become known to unauthorized personnel. Only a small number of officials of the country or non-state entity performing the operation may be aware of it. ^[e]
• Combat search and rescue [r]: The location and rescue of military and civilian personnel in hostile areas, such that a military operation is necessary to retrieve them ^[e]
• Commandant of the Marine Corps [r]: Senior uniformed officer of the United States Marine Corps and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; responsible for doctrinal development, and preparing and training forces, for deployment to Unified Combatant Commands ^[e]
• David Kilcullen [r]: A former Australian infantry officer with a doctorate in the study of insurgency and history, he is an advisor on counterinsurgency to the Australian and U.S. governments. His models draw a sharp distinction between the tactic of terror, and the conduct of wars that make use of that tactic. Board of Advisors, Center for a New American Security ^[e]
• Defense Intelligence Agency [r]: One of the members of the United States intelligence community, charged with providing national-level analysis specifically relevant for military needs, and being the focal point for measurement and signature intelligence ^[e]
• Dell Dailey [r]: Currently Counterterrorism Coordinator for the U.S. Department of State, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general whose career was spent in special operations ^[e]
• Delta Force [r]: A generally covert U.S. Army unit in Joint Special Operations Command, specializing in hostage rescue and combat search and rescue, direct action, special reconnaissance, and counterterrorism. ^[e]
• Direct action (military) [r]: Military attacks, usually by special operations forces on land, against specific, well-defined targets, often behind enemy lines. ^[e]
• Eighth United States Army [r]: Actually consisting of a reinforced division, this is the headquarters for U.S. Army forces in South Korea, but its four-star commander also commands United States Forces Korea and tje United Nations Command ^[e]
• Electronic intelligence [r]: Collection and analysis of electronic signals not intended to be intelligible to humans, such as radar or navigational aids ^[e]
• Electronic warfare [r]: A subset of information operations that deals with the use of electromagnetic or kinetic means to degrade an enemy's military electronics systems, to be able to operate one's own electronics in the face of enemy attacks, and to evade those attacks through protection or deception ^[e]
• F-16 Fighting Falcon [r]: A relatively lightweight land-based multirole fighter, developed by the United States Air Force; co-produced with Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal; operated by many nations and to be replaced by the F-35A Lightning II. The F-16CJ model is optimized for SEAD. ^[e]
• Flare (electronic warfare) [r]: An expendable electronic warfare decoy form of infrared countermeasures ^[e]
• Foreign internal defense [r]: The United States military doctrine for assisting Host Nations in their counterinsurgency programs ^[e]
• Fort Bragg [r]: A large U.S. Army base in North Carolina, with major resident units being the XVIII Airborne Corps, 82nd Airborne Division, Army Special Operations Command and the school and center for United States Army Special Forces ^[e]
• French and Indian Wars [r]: Series of North American colonial conflicts involving the British and French, with Native Americans fighting on both sides, fought between 1689-1763. ^[e]
• French and Indian War [r]: (1754-1763) The American extension of the European conflict known as the Seven Years' War. ^[e]
• Gulf War [r]: The conflict started by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, and ended with the liberation of Kuwait and major damage to Iraqi forces, by a US-led UN coalition in 1991. ^[e]
• H-60 helicopter [r]: A family of light transport helicopters used by the U.S. services, including the standard troop carrier, naval rescue and surface/subsurface warfare, electronic warfare, and a special operation variant that is not really a Black Helicopter but instead very, very dark gray ^[e]
• HAVE QUICK II [r]: A family of military UHF jam-resistant radios, intended for air-to-air and air-to-ground use ^[e]
• Hamid Karzai [r]: President of Afghanistan, who took interim office in 2002, was reelected to a full five-year term in 2004, and faces a new election in August 2009; Pashtun of the Durrani tribe ^[e]
• Information operations [r]: The integrated employment of the core capabilities of electronic warfare, computer network operations, psychological operations, military deception, and operations security. ^[e]
• Infrared countermeasures [r]: Equipment and flying techniques that can break the lock of a heat-seeking missile on a target aircraft. ^[e]
• Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace [r]: "An analytical methodology employed to reduce uncertainties concerning the enemy, environment, and terrain for all types of operations. Intelligence preparation of the battlespace builds an extensive database for each potential area in which a unit may be required to operate. The database is then analyzed in detail to determine the impact of the enemy, environment, and terrain on operations and presents it in graphic form. Intelligence preparation of the battlespace is a continuing process. Also called IPB." (Joint Chiefs of Staff) ^[e]
• Intelligence interrogation, U.S., George W. Bush Administration [r]: The policies and practices authorized for interrogation of suspected terrorists by the United States Department of Defense and the United States intelligence community during the George W. Bush Administration ^[e]
• Intelligence interrogation, U.S. [r]: Policies, techniques and practices of United States interrogation in a national intelligence-gathering context. (See Intelligence interrogation, U.S., George W. Bush Administration for recent detailed discussions) ^[e]
• Intercontinental ballistic missile [r]: A ballistic missile, carrying one or more warheads, with a range in excess of 5500 kilometers; the definition traditionally referred to land-based weapons, but some submarine-launched ballistic missiles have this capability ^[e]
• Iraq War, major combat phase [r]: That part of the Iraq War involving the initial invasion by large-scale ground forces ^[e]
• Iraq War, theater operational planning [r]: Detailed invasion planning for the Iraq War by United States Central Command, once the policy decision had been made to prepare for war ^[e]
• John Mulholland [r]: Since 2008, a lieutenant general commanding U.S. Army Special Forces; he commanded the 5th Special Forces Group in combat in the Afghanistan War (2001-) and Iraq War ^[e]
• Joint Special Operations Command [r]: A major subordinate unit of the United States Special Operations Command, which takes on the most sensitive covert military operations, usually working unacknowledged within the geographic area of a Unified Combatant Command ^[e]
• Laos [r]: A country in Southeast Asia that was part of French Indochina, located northeast of Thailand and west of Vietnam, with short borders to Burma, Cambodia and China ^[e]
• Laser designator [r]: A device that puts a distinctive, usually invisible, pattern of laser energy on an object, for purposes such as designating the target of a laser-guided bomb. ^[e]
• MACV-SOG [r]: The U.S. organization responsible for covert operations against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, as well as related cross-border operations from South Vietnam into Laos and Cambodia during the Vietnam War; the abbreviation had an unclassified cover meaning, but was actually the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Special Operations Group ^[e]
• MC-130 COMBAT SHADOW [r]: A long-range U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command aircraft intended to refuel special operations helicopters, and carry out other clandestine functions such as leaflet drops ^[e]
• MC-130 COMBAT SPEAR [r]: Evolutionary upgrade of the MC-130H COMBAT TALON II, with improved avionics, structure, and ability to support CV-22 Ospreys as well as helicopters ^[e]
• MC-130 COMBAT TALON [r]: Special operations transport aircraft primarily intended to support ground forces in denied areas, by airdrop or assault landing; secondary capability of helicopter refueling and navigational assistance. ^[e]
• MQ-1 Predator [r]: A medium-altitude, long-endurance, unmanned aerial vehicle used for armed reconnaissance by the Central Intelligence Agency, and for reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition at the level of Unified Combatant Commands; it will be replaced by its larger descendant, the MQ-9 Reaper ^[e]
• Marine Air-Ground Task Force [r]: The basic structure of United States Marine Corps combined arms, task-organized units ^[e]
• Marine Special Operations Command [r]: The Marine component of United States Special Operations Command, this unit absorbed the existing Marine special reconnaissance "Force Recon" companies (but not battalions), but also added a support organization, school, and a system of developing training teams for foreign internal defense and other special operations missions ^[e]
• Michael Repass [r]: Commanding general of United States Army Special Forces Command as of 2007 ^[e]
• Military Assistance Command, Vietnam [r]: Headquarters for most U.S. combat and support units assisting the Republic of Vietnam ^[e]
• Military [r]: The standing armed forces of a country, that are directed by the national government and are tasked with that nation's defense. ^[e]
• Missile warning receiver [r]: An electronic warfare subsystem that detects the thermal energy, or other signatures, of a missile launch or its flight, in order to take defensive measures ^[e]
• Mogadishu [r]: Largest city and port, as well as official capital, of Somalia ^[e]
• National Command Authority [r]: The combination of the U.S. President and Secretary of Defense, or their successors, who have the sole authority to authorize the use of nuclear weapons, or issue orders to Unified Combatant Commands ^[e]
• National Security Agency [r]: An organization within the United States Department of Defense, with the dual roles of the principal signals intelligence agency in the United States intelligence community, but also having the responsibility for information assurance of military, diplomatic, and other critical communications. ^[e]
• Naval infantry [r]: Personnel assigned to naval ships, who are qualified to engage in combat using individual weapons, against enemy personnel on land or on ships that were boarded ^[e]
• North Carolina [r]: A state in the southeastern region of the United States ^[e]
• Northern Alliance [r]: A military alliance against the Taliban in Afghanistan's civil war, which, with U.S. assistance, drove it from power in the Afghanistan War (2001-) ^[e]
• Operation EAGLE CLAW [r]: A failed U.S. military hostage rescue operation, in April 1980, intended to recover the hostages taken at the U.S. embassy in Teheran in 1979 ^[e]
• Operational Preparation of the Battlespace [r]: Non-intelligence activities conducted prior to D-Day, H-Hour, in likely or potential areas of employment, to train and prepare for follow-on military operations (United States Special Operations Command) ^[e]
• Operational Preparation of the Environment [r]: Clandestine operations of the U.S. Department of Defense that can fall into Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace or Operational Preparation of the Battlespace, but are of sufficient sensitivity that if they were conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Congressional leadership would need to be informed ^[e]
• Osama bin Laden [r]: A radical jihadist who founded, with Ayman al-Zawahiri, a group known as al-Qaeda, which is credited with a series of terrorist attacks. ^[e]
• Pararescue [r]: A U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command specialty, combining paramedic level emergency medical technician skills with the ability to conduct combat search and rescue behind enemy lines ^[e]
• Paratroop [r]: A subset of air assault military forces, which arrive at a tactical objective by deliberately parachuting from aircraft ^[e]
• Radar warning receiver [r]: allows detection of a radar that potentially might be able to sense the platform carrying the receiver, but does not give detailed characterization of the radar signal, as needed for electronic intelligence. ^[e]
• Robert M. Gates [r]: The 22nd, and current, Secretary of Defense of the United States. ^[e]
• Secret Intelligence Service [r]: Britain's national-level civilian organization for intelligence and covert action ^[e]
• Special Air Service [r]: Elite division of the British Army. ^[e]
• Special Assistant for Counterinsurgency and Special Activities [r]: In the 1960s and 1970s, an officer who had responsibility for advising the Chairman of he Joint Chiefs of Staff on counterinsurgency and covert operations, the latter including military support to Central Intelligence Agency operations ^[e]
• Special operations weather [r]: Part of the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command, this is an additional qualification for weather technicians, such that they can operate deep behind enemy lines, plan the weather aspects of military operations, and train others in basic weather skills ^[e]
• Special operations [r]: Military or paramilitary operations that differ from conventional operations in degree of physical and political risk, operational techniques, mode of employment, independence from friendly support, and dependence on detailed operational intelligence and indigenous assets; they are often controlled at a national or strategic level of command ^[e]
• Special reconnaissance [r]: Also known as SR, missions deep in denied areas, conducted by special operations personnel. They may be in or out of uniform. While SR units may direct air, missile, or artillery strikes, they strive to stay undetected. ^[e]
• Terrorism and U.S. Intelligence [r]: Activities of the U.S. government to identify potential sources for the tactical use of terrorism, related to but distinct from intelligence on political insurgencies that may or may not use that tactic ^[e]
• U.K. Special Forces [r]: A UK Ministry of Defence Directorate which also has the capability to provide a Joint Special Operations Task Force Headquarters. ^[e]
• U.S. Department of Defense [r]: The military forces of the United States and their supporting civil servants. ^[e]
• U.S. Intelligence and terrorism in the 1970s [r]: Tracking and actions against terrorism by the United States intelligence community in the 1970s ^[e]
• U.S. intelligence activities in Africa [r]: Activities of the United States intelligence community in Africa ^[e]
• U.S. support to South Vietnam before Gulf of Tonkin [r]: A period of overt advisory and combat support by the U.S. to South Vietnam, from roughly 1962 to mid-1964 ^[e]
• Ultraviolet [r]: The part of the electromagnetic spectrum between the visible light and X-ray regions ^[e]
• Unconventional warfare (United States doctrine) [r]: The United States' doctrinal term for the way the Department of Defense sees its forces operating in the more global context of insurgency. ^[e]
• Unified Combatant Command [r]: Operational line-of-commands for United States military groups. ^[e]
• United States Air Force [r]: One of the uniformed services of the United States, with principal responsibility for land-based long-range and high-performance aircraft, as well as land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles ^[e]
• United States Army Special Forces [r]: United States Army organization originally created to train and lead guerillas, highly qualified to work with other cultures; acquired additional missions including foreign internal defense, direct action (military), special reconnaissance, counterterrorism, etc. ^[e]
• United States Army [r]: Branch of the United States Armed Forces with the principal responsibility of conducting large-scale ground combat ^[e]
• United States Central Command [r]: Unified Combatant Command responsible for U.S. operations in the Middle East and Southwest Asia, now under the command of General David Petraeus ^[e]
• United States Marine Corps [r]: A branch of the United States Armed Forces, with primary responsibilities as naval infantry and in amphibious warfare, are organized in Marine Air-Ground Task Forces capable of serving as up to corps headquarters with integrated close air support ^[e]
• United States Navy SEAL [r]: [under]sea-air-land special operations organization of the United States Navy, specializing in direct action, special reconnaissance, combat search and rescue and counterterrorism ^[e]
• United States Pacific Command [r]: The U.S. Unified Combatant Command, headquartered in Hawaii, and responsible for the Pacific and East Asia ^[e]
• War on terror [r]: A major policy of the George W. Bush Administration, defining global terrorism, as opposed to nation-states as in the Cold War, as the focal point of national security policy ^[e]
• XVIII Airborne Corps [r]: A corps headquarters of the United States Army, long reserved for highly mobile strategic reserve operations but now deployed when the corps level of command is needed ^[e]