This monograph examines the utility of U.S. Army Special Forces in the changing world security environment. It first analyzes the security environment by looking at several theories and assessments. Then it focuses on the post-Cold War national military strategy of the United States. From this analysis the monograph develops evaluation criteria against which the study judges how useful Special Forces will be for campaign planners at the Unified Commands around the globe. The monograph uses the criteria as evaluation tools to judge the performance of Special Forces in four case studies of recent operations that represent four different situations and models for the future. The four case studies include: Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Provide Comfort, the professionalization of the El Salvadoran Armed Forces, and Silver Anvil. The study does not describe each operation in detail but gleans the essential operational features in order to evaluate them in light of the evaluation criteria. The monograph can be valuable in the current debate over roles and missions because it shows how Special Forces are actually used by the Unified Commanders and in what ways they are operationally effective in today's complex security environment. The conclusions show Special Forces' versatility as they successfully accomplished a wide range of missions in dramatically different situations.

ADA 274110 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)