This blog covers our 2023 SOF Imperatives Forum, our policy-driven event that takes place annually in Washington, DC. This year’s Forum took place on 31 JAN 2023 in the Capitol Visitor’s Center.
Since 2015, the Global SOF Foundation has published an annual SOF Imperatives document–a concise and branded brochure that we use on The Hill to drive conversations about the needs of the U.S. special operations community. We canvas our Active Duty membership and Advisors each year to guide the content and conversations.
As the Foundation grew, we launched our SOF Imperatives Forum as an annual event in February 2020. It was an impactful one-day program that featured Congressional leaders holding up our SOF Imperatives document and saying how helpful it was, while having engaging and focused conversations on the stage.
We were riding high. We were feeling energized. We were…about to enter a multi-year COVID19 event lockdown.
However, we didn’t take our foot off the gas on our policy efforts. We continued releasing our annual document and hosted a series of virtual SOF Imperatives Roundtables and Forums in 2021 and 2022.
And now, after a 3-year hiatus, the event is BACK. We hosted our 2nd in-person SOF Imperatives Forum on Tuesday, 31 JAN 2023. Read on to hear how it went…
Serving SOF with Legislation
Despite a few flight delays (or in Chelsea’s case, thanks TO a delayed flight), our Global SOF Team made it safely to the Nation’s capital on Monday, loaded down with SOF Week fliers, GSOF shields, and of course… the 2023 SOF Imperatives documents themselves.
Stu arrived nice and early (2AM, early) to meet with our partners at Navigators Global to embark on a busy day of meetings and visits around Capitol Hill.
Engagements included the offices of Rep. Richard Hudson (NC-09), Rep. Wasserman-Schultz (FL-25), Rep. Michael Waltz (FL-06), Rep. Jack Bergman (MI-01), and professional staff of the HASC Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittees.
The conversations were very productive and Congressional staffers gained a better understanding of our priorities related to Irregular Warfare, Service Member (SM) and Family health/well-being and its impact on readiness and retention, and the challenges to SOF SMs transitioning to post military life.
Congressional staffers provided invaluable insight, feedback, and education to our team regarding the way forward to best address these issues legislatively.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team was prepping for the first event of the week: the VIP Reception, hosted by Global SOF Small Business Partner—JFD.
This invite-only networking social gave 50+ speakers, sponsors, and staffers an opportunity to engage prior to the big day and share some food and drinks in the centrally located and photo-friendly Navigators Global headquarters.
Congressman Jack Bergman also attended and provided some informal remarks. As a former military officer and small business owner, Congressman Bergman discussed the value of small businesses and welcomed their input in solving the challenges faced by the SOF community.
Huge thanks again to JFD and Navigators Global for helping us put on this classy kick-off to the SOF Imperatives Forum.
Here it is—the 2023 SOF Imperatives Document
All of our SOF Imperatives Forum attendees were handed a 2023 SOF Imperatives Document upon arrival at the event, getting the first look at this exclusive and impactful document.
As our loyal blog readers, you get the second look–the document in its entirety is available here. It’s only four pages long and there are many cool pictures, plus the content gets right to the point.
Strategic Issues: This section highlights the Section 1202 funding and authority that allows SECDEF to “provide support” of up to $10 million annually to “foreign forces, irregular forces, groups, or individuals” that are acting in support of authorized U.S. special operations activities.
Irregular Warfare: This section highlights how SOF contributes to Irregular Warfare (IW) and where and how across the globe these methods should and could be utilized.
Support to the Force: This section covers both housing and fertility issues that are currently impacting the readiness and health of the force.
SOF for Life: This section focuses on SOF transition from Active Duty Service to Civilian careers, including non-traditional treatment of mental health issues and SOF-specific transition support resources.
Check out the complete document below:
USSOCOM’s Policy Focus… Right from the Vice Commander
The SOF Imperatives Forum itself took place at the Capitol Visitors Center; it’s the ideal venue because it can be easily reached by members of Congress via tunnel, so they can come and go for votes and meetings quickly and conveniently.
It’s not always as convenient to get to for our attendees (huge thank you to all of our participants who made the uncovered walk in the drizzle to show up), but we’re sure no one was disappointed. It’s an impressive and historical space in the heart of the US government.
The Forum took place from 1-5 PM. Four hours may seem short for an event with so many high-level speakers, but boy did we cram a lot into those four hours.
Luckily, our Corporate Partners and Presenting Sponsors at Conceal provided an amazing Master of Ceremonies to keep us on schedule. Mr. Christian Sessoms took our script and ran with it, never missing a beat over the course of the event.
Most importantly, all of the speakers on the agenda were serving full meals of content–moving past baseline talking points to dive into the meat of the issues facing the special operations community.
Opening Remarks were delivered by Mr. Peter Bergen, the Chairman of the Board of the Global SOF Foundation. You know Peter from his long and illustrious journalism career at CNN and his work with think tanks like New America.
We thank Peter, as always, for his continued support of the special operations community and our Foundation.
If you know much about the structure of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), you know that the Vice Commander is a 3-star position in the National Capital Region (NCR) that plays a huge role in advocating for SOF issues on The Hill.
That’s why we were honored to have Lieutenant General Francis L. Donovan, USSOCOM’s current Vice Commander, join us on stage next to provide our first keynote remarks.
LtGen Donovan spoke to many of the priorities of USSOCOM, to include ensuring that our people are properly trained and resourced in order to get our missions accomplished.
Part of that resourcing, he said, is ensuring that the SOF families are taken care of–an ongoing cornerstone of the Foundation’s SOF Imperatives documents.
LtGen Donovan also spoke about “re-indexing” the strategic priorities of the Command, to include:
- Contributing to Integrated deterrence
- Countering Violent Extremist Organizations
- Preparing for “No fail” crisis response
We were happy to hear LtGen Donovan speak to one of the founding principles of Global SOF: campaigning for the trust and confidence of our allied partners…not just campaigning against an enemy. We are huge supporters of this approach, and it is always encouraging to hear these sentiments from senior defense leaders.
“Transform” is one of the pillars of the current USSOCOM Commander, GEN Bryan Fenton, so the Vice Commander also spoke to those priorities. They included:
- Next Generation Mobility
- Next Generation AI and Recon through autonomous sensors / ISR
- AI-enabled systems
- Biotechnology that keeps our operators at top of their game
As always, we challenge our industry partners to take on those needs head-first and help equip our warfighters and their allies to win the present and future fights!
Our original schedule provided for NO breaks in the entire agenda, but this was one of those lucky cases where the next speaker was running a tad late…and it worked out! We took a quick break for refreshments to digest the information from the Vice Commander and prepare to shift to Congressional speakers in the next session.
The “Cold War” with China
After a brief networking intermission, The Honorable Mike Rogers, a representative from Alabama and the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services (HASC), provided the next keynote.
Representative Rogers shared his support of the special operations community and his confirmation that the HASC is tracking how essential SOF is to the defense of the United States and its Partner Nations.
He also took the extra time to speak with some of our gathered attendees both before and after his remarks–we greatly appreciate the time and candor!
After the Congressman’s remarks, we welcomed our first panel to the stage. The focus was the Role of SOF in Indo-PACOM, so our panelists included leaders and experts on the region and defense:
- COL Sean Berg, Deputy Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific
- Ms. Emily Harding, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, International Security Program, Center for Strategic & International Studies
- Dr. Michael G. Vickers, Former Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
COL Berg kindly agreed to also serve as the moderator, and he led his panel through a lively conversation on the threats and challenges of the region.
These experts discussed the “Cold War-like” situation focused around China, impacted by factors like information campaigns, economic influence, and arms trafficking.
What are the solutions: More Americans who speak Mandarin? Information campaigns through Hollywood? Exposing the lies of the Chinese government to its people? Our panel covered all this and more in a thorough discussion that also incorporated audience Q&A.
It is clear that this is an issue that can’t be ignored, and special operations can and should play an impactful role in the INDOPACOM region.
Support from the House SOF Caucus
Next up, we welcomed a new panel to the stage that shifted across the globe to discuss Eastern European threats. Due to the current urgency of the situation in Ukraine, our panelists weren’t all able to attend in person:
- Moderator: Mr. Tony Frazier, Maxar Technologies
- Lieutenant General Dr. Romulus Ruszin-Szendi, Chief of Defence, Hungary—participated virtually
- General Daniel Petrescu, Chief of Defence, Romania—participated virtually
One “good” thing about COVID19 was the normalization of virtual meetings and presentations, which enabled us to have these two Chiefs of Defence, who wouldn’t be able to share their points of view with our audience otherwise, speak.
Tony did an excellent job of managing the conversation as the only corporeal speaker and we were thrilled that we weren’t derailed by any tech issues and were able to welcome both CHODs to the stage.
It was after 11PM for the two guests, but they gave us their all and provided updates on the impacts of the current conflict in Eastern Europe on their nations and defense strategies.
Thank you again to General Daniel Petrescu and Lieutenant General Dr. Romulus Ruszin-Szendi for taking the time to join us!
The last panel of the day was one we were very excited about—a discussion on Irregular Warfare and the Role of SOF.
It was moderated by Ms. Catherine Herridge of CBS News; she is always a dynamic moderator and we are so grateful that she has donated her skills to the Foundation many times over the years.
The panelists were all four co-chairs of the House SOF Caucus:
- Rep Kathy Castor
- Rep Richard Hudson
- Rep Scott Peters
- Rep Mike Waltz
The conversation focused on several of the issues that we frequently tackle at Global SOF, including:
- Military family readiness and childcare
- The threat of China’s actions against Taiwan
- Educating the US public
Before we let the Representatives leave the stage, Stu took to the podium to offer his thanks–both for speaking at the Forum, but more importantly for their efforts to support our initiative to get a Child Development Center (CDC) for the families of 7th Group in Crestview, Florida.
This has been an ongoing effort that we support and all four SOF Caucus co-chairs helped advocate for the approval of the CDC, which is needed for the readiness of hundreds of SOF families.
Moderator Catherine Herridge was also included in the “thank you”; she went to Crestview and conducted many interviews to publish a story on the issue back in October 2022.
Our final Keynote Speaker of the event was The Honorable Jack Bergman, a Congressional Representative from Michigan and the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services Intelligence and Special Operations (ISO) Subcommittee Chair.
Congressman Bergman had a 4:30PM speaking slot and we found out soon before that he would have to be on the House floor for a vote at 4:45PM, but he didn’t let that stop him from coming by to share his views on the impact of SOF on US defense policy.
He finished his remarks just in time to hurry off to the floor for the vote, and officially completed our trifecta of Bergen – Berg – Bergman speakers in one half-day event. #THRICEberg
See, we told you it was a packed four hours! After some brief closing remarks from Stu, we released the 200-person crowd out to the beautiful Capitol Visitors Center Atrium for a networking reception.
Walking through the reception, you could hear conversation after conversation of attendees talking about the content of the Forum. That is one reason we think it’s so important to have these discussions in person where we can. They provide unrivaled opportunities to continue the dialogue, seek collaborative solutions, and increase awareness of the issues that are facing our special operations community.
We had one final surprise before the event wrapped–Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, who has been a steadfast supporter of our ongoing efforts for the 7th Group CDC, stopped by to say “hello.” Stu was able to conduct an impromptu shield presentation to her as a thank you for all that she has done for SOF families.
Thank you so much to everyone who attended and contributed to our second “annual” SOF Imperatives Forum! We certainly don’t plan to wait three more years to do it again.
See the event photos at the link below, and make sure you join us at our next event: the Special Air Warfare Symposium (SAWS) in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, from 28 FEB to 2 MAR. See you there!
SOF IMPERATIVES FORUM PHOTOS:
GSOF Travel Log: Site Survey to Bratislava
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