WASHINGTON -- A sweeping Pentagon review of elite U.S. commando missions is likely to result in a sharp cut in Special Operations forces in Africa, military officials said.
Ordered by Defense Secretary James Mattis in recent weeks, the assessment of Special Operations units worldwide follows last fall's ambush in Niger that killed four U.S. soldiers. The review could result in slashing counterterrorism forces in Africa by as much as half over the next three years, officials said.
The review is an outgrowth of a Defense Department strategy that focuses on combating rising threats from Russia and China.
More than 7,300 Special Operations troops are working around the world, many of them conducting shadow wars against terrorists in Yemen, Libya, Somalia and other hot spots. The Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., has assumed important new missions in recent years, such as taking the lead on combating weapons of mass destruction.
Pentagon officials said Mattis and Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are worried that the commandos are spread too thin. The two leaders have ordered the military's Special Operations and Africa commands to present a variety of options by mid-June to balance rising security challenges -- which also include North Korea and Iran -- with vital counterterrorism operations.
The Pentagon investigation of the deadly attack in Niger exposed a risk-taking culture among commandos. That accelerated Mattis' decision to abandon some counterterrorism missions in Africa to focus on global powers, according to two Defense Department officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The potential changes are part of a transition period to focus on growing threats from Russia and China, as outlined in the Trump administration's national defense strategy released in January.
In places where Special Operations troops are frequently in combat, such as Afghanistan and Syria, regular soldiers and Marines are sometimes attached to commando units as additional security or firepower in what is known as the "uplift" program.
In the past two years, the Army has also slowly begun standing up small brigades -- usually of roughly 1,000 soldiers -- specifically to take on advisory missions that are often specific to Special Forces troops and larger military units.
Soldiers are selectively recruited for those Security Force Assistance Brigades to avoid taxing regular Army forces for the advisory missions.
While the Army plans to field six of the advisory units, only one is fully staffed. It is deployed in Afghanistan, where it is facing difficulties that advisory soldiers have dealt with in the past: inexperience with local troops and a stringent military bureaucracy.
At the same time, in a nod to the increasing concern about the Russian military, more Special Operations teams have been sent to the Baltic countries -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- and Eastern Europe to help local commando forces identify and confront possible threats from Moscow.
Nearly a decade ago, almost 13,000 Special Operations troops were deployed on missions around the globe, but a large majority were assigned to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently, about 7,300 American commandos are operating in 92 countries. About half of them are posted outside the Middle East and South Asia, according to the Special Operations Command.
About 1,200 of those troops are on missions in Africa, and they face the most immediate likelihood of reductions. The Africa Command has been asked how it would conduct its counterterrorism missions on the continent if the number of commandos there were cut by 25 percent over 18 months and by 50 percent over three years.
That would leave about 700 troops -- roughly the same number as in 2014, according to data from the Africa Command's Special Operations branch. By comparison, there were 70 Special Operations troops on the continent in 2006.
Some of the reassigned troops could be put on missions against Russia or China. Or, officials said, they could rotate into deployments to ease the strain on U.S. commandos who have repeatedly been sent abroad.
Maj. Sheryll Klinkel, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to comment on the specific reductions being considered but confirmed the review of the Africa Command's force levels.
"In light of the National Defense Strategy's updated priorities, the Joint Staff consistently reviews plans, operations and military investments across the globe to develop the best options that address the constantly evolving threat to U.S. national interests," Klinkel said in an email.
She said no final decisions have been made.
A Section on 06/05/2018