Vice Adm. William McRaven, the leader of the military’s elite terrorist hunting unit, will be the next leader of all U.S. Special Operations Forces. Which means the ascendancy of the controversial group, known as the Joint Special Operations Command, is complete. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made the announcement this afternoon in a Pentagon briefing, praising JSOC under McRaven’s leadership for “ruthlessly and effectively tak[ing] the fight to America’s most vicious enemies.” He even praised McRaven’s “diplomatic skills” — most visibly on display in Afghanistan, after McRaven presented a Gardez village with two sheep to atone for a botched raid that left civilians dead.
Controversies like that have been a consequence of the greater role that JSOC has been playing in counterterrorism strategy. Its so-called “night raids” in Afghanistan have been a central bone of contention between the U.S. and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who wants them stopped. There have been allegations of secret prisons in Afghanistan operated by JSOC, which the military has firmly disputed. But don’t expect McRaven to spend much time addressing those charges in his Senate confirmation hearing: his JSOC predecessor, Stanley McChrystal, barely had to say anything about his own alleged knowledge of the unit’s torture when he emerged from the spec-ops shadows.
But JSOC’s star has only risen under McRaven’s leadership. At the White House, he was a big advocate for the Afghanistan surge, which led to his forces increasing their raiding and targeting of insurgent figures, something praised effusively by Gen. David Petraeus. According to the Nation’s Jeremy Scahill, it’s at work in Pakistan as well, supplementing the CIA’s drone strikes. In Yemen, it’s playing a leading role in the U.S. shadow war against an al-Qaeda franchise.
Expect that to continue with McRaven at the helm of U.S. Special Operations Command. He’ll inherit a force that’s under extreme strain, as its current commander, Adm. Eric Olson, recently said in a speech, due to the how often military and civilian leaders want to use it. Even if McRaven wanted to take a breather, he’ll be running SOCOM at a time when elite units will be used to supplement the drawdowns of conventional forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
JSOC will be left to Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Votel, who got tapped to replace McRaven in mid- February. One inside-baseball question: what happens to Lt. Gen. John Mulholland, the head of the Army Special Operations Command, now that Votel will run JSOC and McRavel will run SOCOM?
Photo: U.S. Navy
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