Niger

The SEAL Team 6 Rescue of Philip Walton and the Demonstration Effect

During the early morning hours of October 31, 2020, members of the US Navy SEAL Team 6, also known as DEVGRU (Development Group), carried out a dramatic hostage rescue operation in Northern Nigeria to recover the kidnapped American citizen named Philip Walton.

According to reports, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) supplied the intelligence that led to the whereabouts of Walton, and components of the Marine Special Operations in Africa assisted in locating him. Because of their responsibilities in the region of West Africa, SEAL Team 6 was selected to carry out the operation.

Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters in a statement that “US forces conducted a hostage rescue operation during the early hours of October 31 in northern Nigeria to recover an American citizen held hostage by a group of armed men”. Hoffman added that Walton “…is safe and is now in the care of the US Department of State.”

These operations are essential in ensuring the safety of the hostage, and of course, it speaks about the national security of the country involved. With this rescue mission, US pledged its commitment to defending its citizens and national interests wherever they may be.

What happened to Philip Walton?

Philip Walton, age 27, resided in a tiny village of Massalata in Niger with his wife and daughter. Massalata is located close to the border of Nigeria. US officials said he was kidnapped on October 26, 2020. Near the edge of Niger and Nigeria, it is noted that Walton maintains a flock of camels, lambs, chickens, and mango trees. As per the reports, six bandits armed with AK-47 assault rifles rode up on motorbikes to the house where he lived. They then took him captive.

The US intelligence community was able to track him down in Northern Nigeria by following the clues it left behind. As a result, the green light was given to the US Special Operations Forces not long after former US President Donald Trump was briefed on the situation. Although it was a “tough” decision, in the end, the president chose to go ahead with the operation because he placed the utmost importance on protecting American citizens. According to the sources, the aim of the kidnappers was either to demand a ransom payment or to sell Philip Walton to one of the terrorist groups operating in Nigeria.

The Rescue Attempt

The rescue mission carried out by US Special Operations commenced with a parachute insertion into the area. In most cases, this form of insertion is only utilized in exceptional circumstances, such as when no other covert insertion methods are immediately accessible. Additionally, it is used when the forces entrusted to the raid need to go into the target location on aircraft with a greater range from a substantial distance. During the attack, there was around 30 personnel who were a part of special operations. After the rescue team had successfully parachuted into the region, they set out on foot approximately three miles to the objective. After what was described as a “short but intense firefight,” Walton was carried to the evacuation spot. From there, helicopters transported the captive and the rescue team to a secure location. According to a defense official, of the six kidnappers involved in the abduction and during Walton’s liberation, five of them were killed, while the remaining one managed to escape.

U.S. Navy SEALs are deployed worldwide, conducting missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. (Source: U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class George R. Kusner., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Post-Operation Reaction

After the nerve-racking operation, the rescue mission received glowing praise, including former president Donald Trump who said in a tweet that the successful operation was a “Big win for our very elite US Special Forces today. Details to follow!”

During a separate event, he also stated while addressing a crowd in Pennsylvania that “The kidnappers wished they had never done it,” which is something of an understatement since only one of the kidnappers survived.

This successful mission conducted an entire continent away in the remote reaches of a country like Nigeria offers several lessons. The Demonstration Effect can affect the behavior of others who witness an event or the actions of others and the consequences that go with them. The mission to rescue of Walton was something of a marvel in terms of the operational art of war. It may have also been a mission only the United States could pull off successfully.

The long War on Terror had honed the skills of Special Operations Forces like SEAL Team 6 to a very fine point of competence and proficiency.
Our worldwide network of bases provides the Air Force with a global reach, able to send aircraft just about anywhere in the world we might need to conduct operations.
Our intelligence agencies were able to provide timely and accurate information that allowed planners to craft a successful mission.
Our network of satellites was able to provide real-time data of conditions on the ground prior to and even during the raid itself
Political leadership was able to give the green light to the operation with a high degree of confidence that it would be successful.
A successful mission like this creates a deterrent effect. Kidnappers want the ransom money, not a SEAL Team shooting them in the face.

The 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) – An Illustrious History

The 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) is one of the five active-duty Special Forces Groups (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 10th) in the U.S. Army. The 3rd SFG is stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., and its area of responsibility includes the area of operations of AFRICOM as well as the Caribbean Basin.

All Special Forces groups have a plethora of mission sets. Some of these include but are not limited to Direct Action, Special Reconnaissance, Counter-terrorism, Counter-insurgency, Foreign Internal Defense, Unconventional Warfare, Security Force Assistance, Information Operations, and Peace Operations.

Special Forces Soldiers are renowned for their ability to deploy in small teams, operate independently, and conduct their mission in austere environments.

The First Period of the 3rd Special Forces Group

Like many special operations forces, the Special Forces trace their lineage back to WWII. Several units laid the framework for Special Forces, among them the Alamo Scouts, Philippine Guerrillas, 1st Special Service Force, and the Operational Group’s Jedburgh Teams within the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

The Special Forces, otherwise known as Green Berets, came into existence in June 1952. At first, they consisted of only the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne). Soon after, a portion of the 10th split and became the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne).

The Special Forces training school was known as the Psychological Warfare School, later becoming the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.

The 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) was first activated on December 5, 1963, at Fort Bragg, NC, and designated as a Special Action Force with the Middle East and Africa as an area orientation.

The members of the original 3rd SFG(A) were drawn from the existing Special Forces Groups with the exception of the 10th SFG (A).

In an acknowledgment of its origins, the beret flash colors of the 3rd SFG are yellow (1st SFG (A)), red (7th SFG (A)), black (5th SFG (A)), and white (Special Forces Training Group (A)). Likewise, the unit’s original motto was “From the Rest Comes the Best.”

The unit trained the armed forces of Mali, Iraq, Ethiopia, the Congo, and Jordan, in addition to supporting the Gemini 6 and 7 space launches in 1965.

During the war in Vietnam, the 3rd SFG also worked with and augmented the 5th SFG(A). During the early years of the war, SF A-Teams would deploy from all of the groups to Vietnam on TDY status. Afterward, the Army changed that and made it a permanent change of station and centralized all of the SF efforts under the 5th SFG.

In 1966, 3rd Group transferred assumed control of the 403rd Army Security Agency Special Operations Detachment and the 19th PSYOP Company over to 5th Group.

With the “Vietnamization” of the conflict, the 3rd SFG(A) was inactivated on December 10, 1969, and its members were transferred back to the other Special Forces Groups. One 3rd group officer who stayed in South Vietnam — Major George W. Petrie — was the first man on the ground in the Son Tay Raid on November 21, 1970, and later helped plan the Saigon evacuation on April 30, 1975, becoming the last SF soldier to leave the country.

The 3rd Special Forces Group Is Reborn

After nearly 21 years, the 3rd SFG (A) was re-activated at Ft. Bragg on July 1, 1990, with the majority of the troops comprising the group coming from the 5th SFG. The 2nd Battalion and the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd SFG were reactivated in 1991 and 1992, respectively.

3rd SFG’s new area of operation and responsibility initially consisted of the Caribbean and West Africa.

At the outbreak of the First Gulf War, the 3rd Group’s 1st Battalion was deployed to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, for three months. Its A-Teams carried out reconnaissance and sabotage missions into denied areas of Iraq and Kuwait.

In February 1991, the 3rd Group was tasked with securing and occupying the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City. The group also took part in the restoration of democracy in Haiti in 1994. During the late ’90s, the 3rd Group helped train forces in Senegal, Uganda, Malawi, Mali, Ethiopia, and Trinidad and Tobago, among others.

Global War on Terror

3rd Special Forces Group soldiers in Afghanistan — 3rd SFG troops in Afghanistan. (DVIDS)

After the events of 9/11, like all other Special Forces groups, the 3rd SFG became heavily involved in combat operations in Afghanistan. The heroism of the 3rd SFG’s soldiers was exemplary.

In the single largest awarding of troops since Vietnam, Lieutenant General John Mullholland, who led the 5th SFG’s initial deployment into Afghanistan in 2001 and was the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), said of the troops,

“As we have listened to these incredible tales, I am truly at a loss for words to do justice to what we have heard here, where do we get such men? … There is no finer fighting man on the face of the earth than the American soldier. And there is no finer American soldier than our Green Berets. If you saw what you heard today in a movie, you would shake your head and say, ‘That didn’t happen.’ But it does, every day.”

Staff Sergeant Robert Miller – Medal of Honor

On January 24, 2008, ODA-3312 was tasked with a combat reconnaissance mission designed to root out insurgent safe havens located in the ridges of the Chen Khar Valley in Afghanistan.

After finding an insurgent base empty, the SF team learned that a large group of insurgents was massing on a slope beyond the nearby river and preparing to ambush the combined SF and Afghan troops.

Miller fired on the insurgents with an Mk-19 grenade launcher until it broke down. Miller then grabbed a machine gun and immediately put down suppressive fire. When the firing ceased, Miller’s team leader, Major Robert Cusick, ordered Miller to take the point of a patrol up to do a battle damage assessment. Miller, Cusick, six other Green Berets, and a team of 15 Afghan soldiers crossed the river and climbed up the valley.

Miller moved forward with an M249 SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) when an insurgent, breaking free from some rocks rushed Miller. It was at this point that the valley came alive with over 200 insurgents pouring fire down on the exposed team. Major Cusick later compared it to being in the middle of a July 4 fireworks display. Miller killed the insurgent with his SAW and immediately laid down suppressive fire for the remainder of the team.

Cusick was seriously wounded with a gunshot to the collarbone area. Miller was hit in the torso but was able to spin around and kill another insurgent. But then he did what no one, American or insurgent, expected. He attacked.

Moving forward, he singlehandedly took on the enemy force with his SAW, which was highly visible due to the flash of the muzzle. Thus, it attracted an enormous amount of insurgent fire, so heavy, that the Americans reported that although he was close, Miller was impossible to reach.

Miller kept up the fire and moved on insurgent positions, eliminating them one at a time with a mixture of SAW fire and hand grenades. It wasn’t until his ammunition and grenades were expended that he was killed by rifle fire.

In October 2010, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Miller’s parents.

Staff Sergeant Ronald Shurer – Medal of Honor

Ronald Shurer was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Shok Valley in Afghanistan.

Shurer was assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group and ODA 3336. In 2008, the unit was tasked with capturing a high-value target who was a part of the Hezebela Islami Gulbadin insurgent group. The mission took place in the remote Shok Valley in the Nuristan province of Afghanistan.

The team of Green Berets and Afghan commandos was whisked to the snow-covered ground along a frozen river next to a nearly vertical 60-foot cliff that they would have to climb. Then, through their imagery, the number of enemy troops in the area suddenly became much clearer.

In an interview with the media, LTC Kyle Walton, who was in command of the ODA, said the troops saw that “There were hundreds and hundreds of more compounds than we were able to see from our imagery.”

His unit came under machine gun, sniper, and rocket-propelled grenade fire as they made their way through the valley. Another element of the team, trying to maneuver toward the target from a different location, also came under fire and was pinned down. Several of the troops were critically wounded.

Shurer, disregarding his own safety, charged up the mountain while under heavy fire. It took him an hour to reach the element of four critically wounded Americans and 10 wounded Afghan commandos. He returned fire killing several insurgents along the way.

Once he arrived at the wounded troops’ position, he stabilized four of them while being wounded in the arm and taking a bullet in his helmet.

“It felt like I’d been hit in the head with a baseball bat,” Shurer said later in an interview.

Shurer then aided a man who had lost a leg and continued to treat the wounded, while still fighting off the insurgents for several hours. He then aided in lowering three wounded men down a near-vertical 60-foot cliff while under fire.

Shurer’s actions saved the lives of every man who was wounded on that day.

For his actions, Shurer was initially awarded the Silver Star. However, in 2016, the Pentagon conducted a review of all medals awarded for valor since the 9/11 terror attacks. Shurer’s award was then upgraded to the Medal of Honor. He received the award from President Donald Trump on October 1, 2018, in a ceremony at the White House.

“For more than six hours, Ron bravely faced down the enemy,” President Trump said at the award ceremony. “Not a single American died in that brutal battle, thanks in great measure to Ron’s heroic actions.”

Shurer left the Army in 2009. He joined the Phoenix office of the U.S. Secret Service. He was selected for the agency’s Counter Assault Team and assigned to its Special Operations Division in Washington, DC. Sadly, Shurer died of lung cancer in 2020, leaving behind a wife and two young sons.

Sergeant Matthew O. Williams – Medal of Honor

President Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to MSG Matthew O. Williams in the White House for actions in Afghanistan. (White House)

Williams was a Special Forces Weapons Sergeant (18B) with ODA-3336, Special Operations Task Force 11, Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan. On April 6, 2008, the ODA was on a mission to capture or kill high-value targets of the Hezeb Islami al Gulbadin in Shok Valley, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan.

Williams was part of an assault element consisting of several American SF and a larger Afghan commando force. The element was inserted by helicopter into a location in Nuristan Province. As they were moving up a mountain toward their objective, they were engaged by intense enemy machine gun, sniper, and rocket-propelled grenade fire.

The lead portion of the assault element, which included the ground commander, sustained several casualties and was pinned down on the mountainside. Meanwhile, Williams and the trailing portion of the assault element were forced to take cover as they began to also receive intense enemy fire. Insurgent fighters had the entire assault element pinned down.

“It was kind of quiet, then all of a sudden everything exploded all at once – machine gun fire, some RPGs started going off. [The insurgents] had some pretty good shooters and a lot of people up there waiting for us,” Williams said.

The Army’s narrative of the operation highlights Williams’s bravery on that day.

“After learning that the command element had received numerous casualties, he gathered the Afghan commandos around him while braving intense enemy fire and led a counterattack across a 100-meter long valley of ice-covered boulders and a fast-moving, ice-cold, waist-deep river.
After leading his commandos up the mountainside to the besieged element, Williams arrayed his Afghan commandos to provide suppressive fire to keep the insurgents from overrunning the position.
As Williams worked to defend his position, his team sergeant, Master Sgt. Scott Ford, was hit by a sniper round. Once again, Williams braved intense enemy fire to provide Ford first aid and moved him down the sheer mountainside to the casualty collection point.
Then, knowing the commandos and his fellow Soldiers were still in danger, Williams fought and climbed his way back up the mountainside, under enemy fire, to help defend the lead assault element, which still had several serious casualties to evacuate.
Upon reaching the lead element, he provided suppressing fire, killing several insurgents, before once again exposing himself to enemy fire in order to move to the element’s satellite radio and re-establish their communications capability. Williams then continued to expose himself to enemy fire as he assisted in moving the wounded down the mountainside to the casualty collection point.
After Williams reached the casualty collection point with three wounded Soldiers, enemy fighters began maneuvering to overrun their position, putting the lives of the wounded and those caring for them at risk.
Realizing the danger to the wounded, Williams again led the Afghan commandos in a counterattack and fought for several hours against the insurgents, keeping them at bay until helicopters arrived to evacuate the wounded.
Again and again, as the wounded were being evacuated, Williams exposed himself to enemy fire while carrying and loading casualties onto the helicopters. He then continued to suppress numerous insurgent positions by directing commando fires, which allowed the patrol to evacuate the wounded and the dead without further casualties.”

“That day was one of the worst predicaments of my life at that point, the experience from that has helped me through my whole entire career. Remain level-headed and focus on what needs to happen as opposed to what is happening,” Williams said.

Williams’s Silver Star was upgraded to the Medal of Honor and on October 30, 2019. It was presented to him in the White House by President Trump.

In addition to the awards listed above, CW2 Jason Myers and SSG Corey Calkins of the 3rd SFG were awarded the Distinguished Cross, the nation’s second-highest honor for valor.

During the Global War on Terror (GWOT), 3rd Special Forces Group troops have been awarded 56 Silver Stars, 183 Bronze Stars with Valor Device, and 239 Army Commendations with Valor Device.

Niger Ambush

In October 2017, a combined Special Forces A-Team (ODA-3212) from the 3rd Special Forces Group and Nigerien forces were ambushed by a numerically vastly superior insurgent force outside of Tongo Tongo, Niger. The ambush resulted in the deaths of four American Special Forces troops.

The Army, AFRICOM, and senior leadership tried to paint the picture that the ODA had “gone rogue” by submitting a false Concept of Operation (CONOP) to headquarters.

Nothing was further from the truth as the A-Team leader had several times requested that the mission be canceled as the team had no support element and was working on intelligence that had a two-hour window while the mission would be conducted over two days. But he was ordered to continue.

It wasn’t until Michelle Black, the widow of SSG Bryan Black, one of the four men killed in the ambush, conducted an investigation of her own that the entire story was uncovered. Her book Sacrifice, A Gold Star Widow’s Fight for the Truth recounts her pursuit of truth and closure.

Niger Report Slams Troops’ Complacency, Lack of Training for Ambush

The classified Pentagon investigation concerning the death of four U.S. soldiers in Niger last October during an ambush placed the blame squarely on the unit and listed a list of shortcomings including complacency and a lack of training.

Citing a culture of “excessive risk”, low-level commanders took shortcuts to approve operations — with at least one officer lifting orders from a different mission and pasting them onto the “so-called concept of operations to gain approval,” officials said.

Initially, the mission on Oct. 3, 2017, that ultimately sent the Army Special Forces team, along with Nigerian soldiers, into a deadly ambush, was a planned meeting with local officials. However, the team was redirected to assist in a search for Doundou Chefou, a militant suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of an American aid worker.
Upon returning, the team was later attacked by Islamic State-linked militants in a village near Tongo Tongo, resulting in the deaths of four U.S. soldiers and four Nigerien troops on Oct. 4.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday he has given a 200-page classified summary to Congress.
Mattis acknowledged Thursday there was not one but many problems that led to the American soldiers being ambushed by roughly 50 heavily armed ISIS-affiliated fighters more than six months ago in West Africa.
Mattis said: “I think right now we have found what we believe to be the crux of the problems, not problem but problems that contributed to this. It was not a delegation of authority problem. So, we know immediately how to address and we are doing that right now.”

It doesn’t come as a surprise that the report would come down hard on the unit. Since the Pentagon has changed the narrative on this operation several times since the October ambush.

To read the entire article from Fox News, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Niger Agrees to Grant Authority to U.S. Military to Arm Drones

Reports from CNN earlier this week are saying that the government of Niger has granted the US military the authority to arm its drones in Niger. US military officials had been seeking the authority to arm its drones for months prior to the ambush of a US Special Forces unit that left four soldiers dead.

Since that attack in October has goaded US officials to press the Niger government with a renewed sense of urgency to allow the arming of drones.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford told reporters that a remotely piloted drone aircraft arrived overhead within minutes of the soldiers’ request for support but defense officials told CNN that it was unarmed due to the previous prohibition on armed drones.
It is unclear what if any authority military commanders have to conduct drone strikes in Niger.
“The Government of Niger and the US stand firm in working together to prevent terrorist organizations from using the region as a safe haven. For operational security reasons, I will not comment on specific military authorities or permissions,” Maj. Audricia Harris said.
The New York Times was the first to report Niger’s granting of authority to arm drones.

There are currently around 800 US troops in the country of Niger, most are helping to build a new drone operational base in the town of Agadez. The current base for drone operations is located near the civilian airport in the capital of Niamey.

To read the entire article from CNN, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Congress Claims No Knowledge of US Troops in Niger Prior to Ambush

In a typical Washington dance known as the “Potomac Two-Step”, anything that goes right will have a hundred fathers, but if anything goes wrong, that operation is an orphan.

Several members of Congress are now claiming this week they had no idea the U.S. military had a presence in Niger after four troops from the 3rd Special Forces Group were killed there in an ambush on October 4.

The fact that Special Forces and other US troops were in Niger since 2013 wasn’t a black operation or a secret. U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has been openly posting on Twitter about U.S. involvement in Niger for years. And thousands of troops serve across Africa every day. And the Senate Armed Services Committee has been briefed on their involvement in Niger since the deployments are not classified.

Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania told CNN Monday he was not aware of the U.S. military’s involvement in Niger. He’s not alone. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also said he didn’t know.
“When you consider what happened here—the four sergeants lost their lives—I think there’s a lot of work that both parties and both branches of government need to do. Not only to stay more informed, but to focus on why we’re there and what happened to get to the bottom of this,” Casey said.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Sunday he was unaware U.S. troops were in Niger and had only been given a “little insight” on the October 4 ambush. Graham said lawmakers would be briefed next week “as to why they were there and what they were doing.”
Senate documents, however, show Graham was in attendance at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in March when General Thomas D. Waldhauser, AFRICOM’s commander, specifically discussed the U.S. military’s presence in Niger.

SOFREP’s Jack Murphy was asked to be a guest on the BBC and put the presenters straight when asked about the deployment and the ridiculous notion that this is “Trump’s Benghazi.”

To read the entire article from Newsweek, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Heating Up of Africa, Requires Beefing Up Intelligence Requirements

On Friday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, of the Senate Armed Services Committee announced in a press briefing that the United States will be looking to increase U.S. Special Operations counter-terrorism missions within Africa.

This bit of welcome news comes on the heels of an operation that cost the lives of four members of the 3rd SFG that were ambushed while conducting a mission in Niger. If you haven’t been following Derek Gannon’s series on SOFREP.com, you’ve been missing out. He’s been on top of this story since the day it broke. Gannon appeared on CNN on Friday morning speaking about the Niger situation as well. SOFREP’s Jack Murphy was also slated to appear on CNN on Saturday morning. So to keep abreast of the situation with the best, most up-to-date information and analysis, stay tuned to SOFREP.com.

While most Americans weren’t aware of the on-going situation in Africa, our Special Operations troops certainly were. They’ve been conducting operations both in Niger and some of the surrounding countries for quite some time. As Gannon pointed out, now the Special Operations troops will have a direct intelligence pipeline to Washington. That element has been sadly missing for quite some time.

Congress, specifically the Armed Services Committee has been admittedly “out of the loop” according to Graham in regards to Niger and Africa as a whole. Graham vowed that this situation is going to change. And in surprisingly strong language, he made it clear that terrorism, especially Islamic terrorism is going to be strongly addressed in Africa. “The American people need to be ready to more, not less [U.S. military] actions throughout Africa,” Graham said. This will relax the rules of engagement for our Special Operations troops on the ground and allow them to take a more offensive role in targeting the constantly changing terror groups.

But just as importantly, this will open up the area for more and better intelligence operations.The U.S. should also push the Niger government politically for a more liberal use of the US’ drone power and allow the drones to be armed in the future. The US has placed drone bases already in Niger and those will now become even more valuable to the overall effort as the US will ramp up activities in Niger and beyond.

The US Special Operations Command will increase the Direct Action (DA) and Counter-Terror (CT) missions but the Special Operations Forces will also increase their footprint by sending increasing units (Special Forces, Green Berets) to assist in Foreign Internal Defense (FID) as well as Security Force Assistance in Niger and other surrounding countries that are now in the “gray zone” between war and peace.

In the intelligence realm, the US will be forced to rely on trained Nigerien proxies in the HUMINT (Human Intelligence) field as American intelligence operatives will not blend in with those type of situations in the field. However, as we talked about back in July, the full range of intelligence activities to include targeting by the Counter-Terrorism Center of the CIA which target specific terrorist groups and leaders will now be given a larger share of their collection activities.

There will be more intelligence requirements to support the overall US objectives in the area. These will include but not be limited to:
• Military and paramilitary organizations.

Economics.
Politics.
Climate.
Geography.
Sociology.
Ethnic composition.
Religious factors.
Personalities.

Much of this information is already generated by Special Forces A-Teams during their pre-deployment area study guides but national intelligence agencies will also keep much of the information up to date.

The most immediate need for Special Operations Forces in the theater will be force protection in the areas where they’ll be based from. Force protection is an extremely important factor in the overall security for the mission. Here, local intelligence nets must be organized and resourced. They can be tailored to fit the mission and the operational area. This expertise has been used since the times of the teams of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in World War II. The OSS was the forerunner of both the CIA and the US Army Special Forces.

Special Forces have exceptionally trained personnel and are very well versed in spotting, assessing, developing, and recruiting low-level sources for force protection requirements. These operations are extremely important in the force protection and early warning in the operational areas.

Close coordination with the CIA and other national and theater intelligence agencies may be required to identify potential in-country sources. It is important because the area doesn’t need “cross-pollination” or the duplication of effort and/or assets.

With the expanded role in Africa, Special Operations Forces will once be lead element in the US footprint of the mission there. SOF will build our host nation partner’s capacity, collect intelligence, hunt high-value targets, and conduct other counterterrorism operations in multiple countries across the continent. One can expect to see JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) much more actively involved once the key players become more involved. JSOC was created in 1980 as a counter-terrorism force but their operations have been expanded to include psychological operations, (military information operations is another name for it that has been frequently used) and sometimes to trace the financial dealings of terrorist organizations thru banking systems.

The US has the capabilities to annihilate the terrorists on the continent of Africa on the field of battle, that isn’t even a question. But now with a renewed sense of emphasis there, the need will also include what LTG Charlie Cleveland called the “exquisite capabilities to manipulate them.” Killing the terrorists is not enough anymore. The U.S. must find ways to generate desired psychological effects, such as shifting a population’s loyalty to a host nation allied government, as well. This requires specific intelligence and a firm grasp of the local situation. Something our policy overall has lacked…for quite some time.

Photo: US Air Force

White House Chief of Staff Kelly “Stunned” Over Trump Criticism

In another turn of events from earlier this week, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said Thursday he was “stunned and broken-hearted” over the comments that Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) made after President Trump called the widow of a soldier who was killed in Niger two weeks ago.

Kelly came to the aid of the President who was criticized in how he tried to comfort the widow of SGT La David Johnson of the 3^rd Special Forces Group. “There’s no perfect way to make that phone call,” said Kelly, who appeared at a regular White House press briefing. “It’s not the phone call parents, family members are looking forward to,” he said.

Kelly said the comments Trump made to Army Sgt. La David Johnson’s widow, Myeshia Johnson, were similar to those spoken to him after his son was killed in Afghanistan. “He was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed,” Kelly said. “He knew what he was getting into when he joined” the military. “And when he died he was surrounded by the best men on this Earth, his friends,” said Kelly. “That’s what the president tried to say to the four families yesterday.”
Kelly said that the conversation in the aftermath of a military death is one of the only aspects of American life that has not been politicized. Yet, “it eroded a great deal yesterday by the selfish behavior of a member of Congress,” he said. “I thought at least that was sacred,” he said.
Trump on Wednesday denied telling the widow of a U.S. soldier killed by Islamic State-linked militants in Niger that her husband knew “what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurts.”

Kelly spoke about his own son’s death in the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and how difficult that time was. Trump took to Twitter to lambast Rep. Wilson over her comments, calling her actions, “sad.”

To read the entire article from The USA Today click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

“What Were Green Berets Doing in Niger?” – Their Job

This hasn’t been the best of weeks for the United States. We had the largest mass shooting in our history in Las Vegas and then news came out that a Special Forces team, from the 3rd Special Forces Group working with local troops from Niger, were ambushed and suffered four dead in the firefight. There were two Special Forces A-team members and two support soldiers killed in action, who were out on the operation. Two other wounded Green Berets were flown to a military hospital in Germany where they are expected to recover.

A joint Special Forces, Nigerien operation was attacked 120 miles north of the West African country’s capital, Niamey, near the border with Mali.The terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb, or AQIM, is suspected of carrying out the deadly attack. SOFREP’s Derek Gannon has been on top of this breaking situation since it occurred. He’s had the best breakdown of the information as it has unfolded. You can find some of his work here:

We are not even going to get into the topic of second-guessing or armchair quarterbacking this mission. The details are still fuzzy and the men performing these operations are highly trained professionals. They were all veterans of multiple deployments and know better than most the risks that are involved. The self-serving Pentagon CYA comments about risk assessments are an insult to the men who get tasked with performing these operations. But we digress…

But whenever a situation like this happens, which thankfully is rare, the first question everyone wants to ask is “Why did this happen?”. Many friends and relatives who aren’t or have never been in the military have been constantly asking “What are U.S. troops doing in Niger?” I even heard, “Is Trump starting an undeclared war in Africa?”

To answer this, the first thing that people must understand is that President Trump isn’t running some “black-ops” secret war without the knowledge of the American people. Special Operations Forces have been operating in Africa for decades. While most Americans are aware of the wars ongoing in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, the others, the “shadow wars” are going on all over the world and our Special Operations Forces are involved. And on any given day, Special Operations Forces from all of the services can be found in nearly 100 countries around the globe.

After the 9-11 attacks, President Bush initiated a counterterrorism program in which the U.S. worked with the militaries of Niger, Chad, Mali, and Mauritania, to track down criminals and terrorists in the region. It was later expanded to several other countries.

In 2013, Islamic militants overran parts of Mali, where the local government asked France to launch a military intervention to drive them out. This was called Operation Serval.

As former President Obama was winding down operations in Afghanistan, he directed more assets be allocated towards Africa. The 3rd SFG has had Africa as one of its bases of operations since its reactivation in 1990. They were also operating in the Caribbean but have been active participants in the Global War on Terror (GWOT). The 3rd SFG has distinguished itself in the war in Afghanistan as well as Iraq.

The US currently has close to 6000 troops in Africa with close to 800 in Niger. Most of those troops are at two drone bases that the US operates inside the country to keep an eye on the terrorists from ISIS who are flocking from the hot spots of Syria and Iraq as the Islamic State is being routed out of both of those.

The U.S. military has been in a train, advise and assist mode in West Africa for over a decade and Special Operations Forces are at the forefront of that. Those soldiers from the 3rd SFG were there conducting a FID (Foreign Internal Defense) Mission with the Nigerien military as well as advising Nigerien special operations during direct action counter-insurgency operations within the country.

The area of UW (Unconventional Warfare) and FID are two of the areas where the Special Forces groups of the Army are without peer. Their ability to build rapport, speak the local languages and know the customs, of the target nation, makes them the premier UW/FID force in USSOCOM.

Special Forces troops work in the shadows, in those gray areas where there is no right or wrong answer when dealing with foreign governments and military units. One day they may be teaching basic patrolling to a green host nation unit. The next they may be asked to be a diplomat and discuss the on-going strategy with a high-level member of the host nation government.

Special Forces troops such as these men in the 3rd SFG are enablers or what we called in an earlier time, force multipliers. They’re going to teach, assist and advise the host nation forces to root out these Al-Qaeda terrorists from their lands. No one is better at doing these Direct Action type missions than our Special Operations Forces (Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Marine Raiders and Green Berets).

But when the SF are allowed to do their mission, the host nation soldiers will do the heavy lifting, the SF will be there to advise and assist. The host nation soldiers will get all the credit as the SF blends back into the shadows. They are the true “Quiet Professionals.” Which means American troops don’t have to do the fighting there.

Most Americans don’t know that on a daily basis these SF troops could be leading a reconnaissance patrol in Africa, advising a Colombian counternarcotics unit on a drug raid, conducting counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan or advising a Filipino unit doing live operations against Islamic State insurgents.

Another reason that many of our countrymen were surprised to hear that we have troops in Africa is that it doesn’t affect them. Unfortunately, most Americans aren’t truly invested in the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria as well as the countless shadow wars that going on. Oh, they’ll support the troops when they see them coming home and won’t fail to thank them for their service, but for the majority of America, the war is being fought by “somebody else.”

We are creating an almost new caste of society in the United States, the military family. So many of the people that have served have sons, daughters and grandsons and granddaughters serving. The All-volunteer military is the way to go and no one is arguing for a return of the draft here, but we have an increasingly large segment of our society that has little to no stake in what is going on, other than the residual effects on our economy etc. I wonder how many high school students could even find Iraq or Afghanistan on a map. Compare that to a few generations ago. Every school kid could probably find the tiny speck of Iwo Jima on a map back then.

So while it isn’t totally surprising that many Americans didn’t know that we had Special Forces troops in Africa, to answer the original question, “What are Green Berets doing in Africa, the shortest and best answer is…they are doing their job.

Photo: US Army Special Operations Command