The Honorable David L. Norquist
President and CEO, NDIA

COL Dean Hoffman, USA (Ret)
Chairman, NDIA SO/LIC Division
 

Deterring increasingly bold adversaries takes all the elements of national power. SOF is uniquely adept at working across those tools in the places where deterrence is most needed. But successful deterrence requires coordination across many interagency, international, and non-governmental organizations amidst a complex strategic environment. The panel would focus on how SOF supports deterrence through preparation today and what tools could make it more successful in coordinating with all the stakeholders with whom it must work.  

New technologies create not only new opportunities for mission effectiveness, but new roles and tasks for SOF. Nowhere is that clearer than in the space, cyber, SOF triangle. Space and cyber are key enablers of SOF operations, and, in turn, SOF offers unique placement and access for cyber and space missions. This panel will explore the symbiotic missions of space, cyber, and SOF and how they will evolve in the future.  

The changing nature of conflict places new demands on the force. They will need new skills to use new tools, new abilities to operate in new environments, all while maintaining the core traits that make SOF unique. This panel will look at how a changing security environment is shaping what the force of the future will look like.  

The last panel looked at the attributes that the security environment will demand in the SOF force of the future. This panel will look at how the SOF enterprise can tap into new sources of talent, train them with new cognitive edges, and retain them well into the future.  

From AI to unmanned systems, new technologies are reshaping how SOF accomplishes the mission. This does not change the first SOF truth that people are more important than hardware. How can leaders provide affordable, attributable, and asymmetric innovations, and how will the force use these new tools to amplify their human strengths.  

SOCOM has unique cultural strengths that allow it to act faster and with more agility in its acquisition. Members of Congress are looking for ways to approve acquisition speed and agility in other parts of the DOD enterprise. The proposed objective of this panel is a moderated discussion in which Ms. Johnson and the members can explore and discuss what some of these initiatives should look like.