This weekly briefing summarizes the most significant events affecting special operations forces, irregular warfare, intelligence, and national security during the past week. The Special Operations Association (SOA) has its 50th Anniversary Reunion taking place in October. USSOCOM has a new nutrition program for its operators. A new Greenland deal provides the U.S. with two new locations to base troops. Yemen is stepping up the pressure on Saudi Arabia.
The 10th annual Global Special Operations Forces (GSOF) Symposium Europe will take place this year from 6-8 October 2026 in Rome, Italy. The event is co-sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Defense, with support from the Italian Special Operations community, and will bring together members of the global SOF community, industry.
Washington spent most of two decades building a counterterrorism force in northern Somalia. A dispute between Mogadishu and Puntland took the Puntland Security Force (PSF) apart in two days.
This essay provides an account of H.L. Hunley’s daring attack on the Union’s USS Housatonic on 17 February 1864. H.L. Hunley was a civilian submersible on loan to the Confederate Navy. The Union had a larger navy than the Confederacy, so the Union used this advantage to blockade southern ports to prevent resupply.
Any operator who has survived one, or multiple recycles in their special operations training pipeline can tell you that failure is a far better teacher than success. Retired U.S. Navy SEAL Dr. Reynaldo Baviera has had more of those opportunities for learning than most.
This week’s SOF Weekly Brief covers Ukraine’s drone campaign and counteroffensive operations, growing Houthi pressure on Saudi Arabia and Red Sea shipping, a new Greenland security agreement, major defense sales, U.S.-China diplomacy, and developments affecting special operations forces worldwide.
The U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina documents the history and legacy of U.S. Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF).
Looking for upcoming Special Operations community events this October? Here are notable SOF events happening across the community, including nonprofit fundraisers, networking events, and industry gatherings.
This week’s SOF Weekly Brief covers Arctic special operations, Army Civil Affairs changes, emerging drone capabilities, Russian information warfare, and escalating conflicts involving Iran, Yemen, and Ukraine. Additional reporting examines strategic oil chokepoints, intelligence restructuring, veterans’ programs, military publications, and forthcoming special operations community events.
On Sept. 11, 2001, New York Fire Department Fire Marshal (FDNY) Ronald P. Bucca gave his life while responding to the attacks on the World Trade Center. Bucca was a former Green Beret and was serving as operations chief of an MI detachment (New York).
Homeland Security Today and Narrative Strategies are hosting the first-ever Narrative Strategy Symposium on Wednesday, September 30, in Arlington, Virginia. The participants and attendees will explore how narratives shape security, public trust, decision-making, and national resilience.
After four years of war, Russian society increasingly shows signs of fatigue, frustration, and desire for peace. Oleksandr Sukhobrus examines how shattered expectations, battlefield setbacks, Ukrainian drone attacks, mounting casualties, and domestic repression have changed public attitudes toward the conflict.
The Military Free Fall School (MFFS), located at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, is an elite joint-forces institution operated by the U.S. Army John F.Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. The school trains special operations forces in critical infiltration skills, including high-altitude low-opening (HALO) and high-altitude high-opening (HAHO) parachuting.
This weekly brief examines major developments in special operations, irregular warfare, national security, and global conflicts, including SOF education and sustainment, Turkish counter-piracy operations, Army leadership changes, renewed U.S.-Iran fighting, Russian jet-powered drones, emerging technologies, and Kurdish reconciliation efforts.
The U.S. special operations forces community is actively tackling the invisible threat of repeated blast overpressure to protect warfighters’ brain health without compromising combat readiness.
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