January 24, 2006
By Charles Aldinger
Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military plans to add nearly 8,000 troops to its elite Special Operations Forces next year to bolster America's ability to fight terrorists and insurgents worldwide, defense officials said on Tuesday.
Photo: Green Berets walk from their MH-47E helicopter upon arriving in the southern Philippines, February 17, 2002. A new Pentagon review of defense strategy would add thousands of troops skilled in fighting terrorists and insurgents to the ranks of the elite Special Operations Forces, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. (REUTERS/ Charlie Saceda)
The plan would swell the ranks of the Special Operations Command, including Army Green Berets, Navy SEALs and the top-secret Delta Force, to about 60,000 troops by the end of 2007, said the officials.
The officials, who asked not to be identified, confirmed a Washington Post report that the plan emerged from the Pentagon's 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review, or QDR, a sweeping assessment of U.S. defense strategy.
The Post said that billions of dollars would be added to the Special Operations budget over the next five years, if Congress approves the plan.
"There is going to be a significant emphasis on 'SOF,'" said one defense official familiar with the QDR document, which Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will send to the White House and Congress on February 6.
President George W. Bush will also send his 2007 defense budget proposal to lawmakers on that day. U.S. military spending, especially in years beyond 2007, is expected to be heavily influenced by results of the defense review.
Congress approved Bush's request for an addition of more than 1,000 troops for the Special Operations Command in the current 2006 budget, including an increase in SEAL platoons.
Another defense official told Reuters that under the budget proposal the ranks of elite forces would grow by 15 percent in financial 2007, which starts next October.
The defense officials stressed that the defense review was a broad document and dealt with a wide range of issues from how to deal with the future growth of China as a military power to whether to continue to be able to fight and win two major global conflicts simultaneously.
Rumsfeld has emphasized the importance of the U.S. Special Operations Command, based in Tampa, Florida, and since the September 11, 2001 attacks on America has pushed for expanding its autonomy as a fighting force and to increase secret operations worldwide.
The Post reported that one of the largest gains would be in Army Special Forces, or Green Berets, who operate in 12-member "A-teams."
The newspaper cited defense officials and analysts as saying that the Army Special Forces would expand from 15 to 20 active-duty battalions, creating about 90 more A-teams to deploy to regions considered vulnerable to terrorist or extremist influences.
Pentagon officials declined to discuss details of the defense review, but Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters this week that the QDR had identified the growing importance of special forces.
They are trained in languages, how to operate closely with allied troops and in desert, jungle and other warfare.
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