Special Operations Forces have capabilities 鈥渦niquely suited to the most likely missions of the future,鈥� Hagel says. 鈥淢ost notably,鈥� he adds, these include counterterrorism and crisis response operations.
As a result, at a time when the Army is decreasing from 520,000 active duty soldiers today to roughly 445,000, for example, Special Operations Forces (SOF) will grow from roughly 66,000 today to 69,700 in five years.
鈥淐learly Special Operations Forces have been very effective in what we鈥檝e been doing in Iraq and Afghanistan and in terrorism operations around the globe,鈥� says Todd Harrison, senior fellow in defense studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington.
That said, he warns that the Pentagon shouldn鈥檛 go overboard with this. 鈥淭he one thing is that you can鈥檛 just keep making SOF forces larger and larger, because at some point then these forces cease to be 鈥榮pecial鈥�; they cease to be elite,鈥� he warns. 鈥淭hey become too much of a good thing.鈥�
