Defense Strategies Institute professional educational forum: Special Operations and Irregular Warfare Symposium December 12-13, 2018 Chester Ferguson Law Library, Tampa, FL ~Enhancing SOF Capabilities to Guide Operational Success~
Program Design & Goal: DSI s 2018 Special Operations & Irregular Warfare Symposium provides members within the Special Operations community, regional combatant commands, Department of State, Intelligence Community, academia, industry, and other critical partners an open forum to discuss the strategic priorities and operational needs required to meet national goals, as well as aid the U.S. Military in achieving mission success when combatting modern-day threats. The goal of this year s Symposium is to stress the unique and critical effect Special Operations Forces have in achieving and maintaining a military advantage around the world. In an ever-evolving and unpredictable security environment, US forces must fight in an increasing number of gray zones and work toward establishing new and unique measures to confidently win in today s hostile and complex battlefield. Due to the constantly changing and intricate global threat environment the U.S. currently faces, it is vital to ensure our Special Operations Forces have a sufficient amount of strategic resources, to increase their lethality and counter emerging domestic and foreign adversaries. DSI s Symposium directly supports DoD, IC, and Government priorities by providing a conduit for officials to efficiently reach audiences outside of their respective offices that directly impact their department's mission success, at no charge to the government, and in an efficient expenditure of time. Operating Guidelines: DSI s Symposium will provide a forum to address and improve internal and external initiatives, meet with and hear from partner organizations, disseminate vital capability requirements to industry, increase visibility within the larger community, and generally support their mission. *This Symposium is open and complimentary to all IC, DoD and Federal employees and is considered an educational and training forum. (Industry and academia members are charged a fee of attendance) This Symposium is CLOSED TO PRESS / NO RECORDINGS General Target Audience: Specific topics to be discussed include: U.S Military Services, U.S. and Partner SOF, members of the Intelligence Community, Government Agencies, Academia, Program Managers, Capability Developers, Procurement Officers, Operational Planners - Supporting persistent and distributed global combatant command operations for a decisive SOF Advantage - Developing policy guidance in support of DoD strategies related to SOF and combatting terrorism - Ensuring that special operating forces can quickly adapt by closely monitoring emerging international terrorism techniques - Enhancing operational capabilities to guide gray zone conflict response and address irregular warfare tactics used by the adversary to challenge regional stability - Advancing the training and equipping of NSW forces for various special operations and activities - Maintaining relationships with regional SOF organizations to facilitate cooperative defense of North America - Developing a shared understanding of the threat that threat networks pose to the U.S. through increased work with foreign partners - Detailing Top Acquisition Priorities that are currently being undertaken to Mitigate risk and speed Up delivery of service to special operations forces - Guiding a more connected SOF enterprise with agility and adaptability to face and overcome unique challenges - Implementing TALOS to increase SOF readiness capabilities with the end goal being a more decisive overmatch for the enemy
December 12, 2018 8:00 8:45 Registration and Light Breakfast Reception Open 8:45 9:00 *Moderator Opening Remarks* Michael Kichman (Confirmed) Founder Asymmetric Operations Group 9:00 9:45 *Event Keynote Remarks* Guiding the Policy and Oversight of Strategic Capabilities and Resources for Special Operations Forces - Developing policy guidance in support of DoD strategies related to SOF and combatting terrorism - Enabling the capacity of foreign partners to better counter global threats - Overseeing the authorities, resources, and strategy of special operations and irregular warfare Honorable Owen West (Confirmed) Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict DoD 9:45 10:30 Facilitating Operational Effectiveness and Expeditionary Capabilities to Excel in Hybrid Warfare and Gray Zone Conflicts - Maintaining effective and robust relationships with SOF partnerships around the world - Advancing crisis response and operational agility through persistently deployed and alert forces - Enhancing operational capabilities to guide gray zone conflict response and address irregular warfare tactics used by the adversary to challenge regional stability BG Thomas R. Drew, USA (Confirmed) Deputy Commanding General USASOC 10:30 11:00 Network Break & Exhibits 11:00 11:45 Addressing Strategic Priorities to Effectively Combat Terrorist Activities - Ensuring that special operations forces can quickly adapt by closely monitoring emerging international terrorism techniques - Efforts to slow the growth of violent extremism at home and abroad - Current efforts to improve capabilities and collaborate with other agencies and countries to achieve the same mission: fighting terrorism LTG Michael Nagata, USA (Confirmed) Director National Counterterrorism Center ODNI 11:45 12:30 Detailing Why Gray Zone Conflicts Will Become More Frequent and Complex - Guiding ways special operations forces can fight and win on any end of the conflict spectrum - Providing an understanding on what role military forces should play in response to Gray Zone conflicts - Developing strategies to deal with the increasing number of Gray Zone conflicts in the name of U.S. national security interests Dr. Kathleen H. Hicks (Confirmed) Senior Vice President; Henry A. Kissinger Chair Director, International Security Program CSIS
12:30 1:30 Networking Lunch 1:30 2:15 Guiding Initiatives and Strategies to Achieve Success in a Cross-Domain Global Environment -Delivering advisory support and rapid operational solutions to SOF to defeat current and emerging threats -Disseminating and transitioning nonmaterial and material countermeasures for operational advantage in potential conflict zones LTC Brandon Griffin, USA (Confirmed) Able Squadron Commander Asymmetric Warfare Group 2:15 3:00 Leveraging the Relationship of Development and Defense to Establish and Maintain Global Security -Current and future USAID and SOF collaboration efforts -Capabilities and authorities needed to enhance civilian-military cooperation -Perspectives towards International Development in complex environments -Efforts to counter violent extremists and to prevent and counter groups from becoming radicalized John Riordan (Confirmed) Deputy Development Advisor at SOCOM Office of Civilian-Military Cooperation, USAID 3:00 3:30 Networking Break & Exhibits 3:30-4:15 Addressing Policy and Resources Required to Sufficiently Enhance Intelligence Missions - Aiding and forming policy related to HUMINT, counterintelligence, sensitive activities, and overall intelligence analysis - Enabling successful posture for future conflicts while winning current conflicts - Detailing the significance and reliance on USSOCOM for defense of the Homeland Garry Reid (Confirmed) Director for Defense Intelligence (Intelligence and Security) Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence 4:15-5:00 Objective Analysis of the Critical Role of SOF in Global Competition - Full spectrum analysis on complex and difficult issues regarding current and future SOF issues - Understanding the tactics of adversaries and most effective strategies to counter them - Providing real-world, on-site operations reconstruction and intelligence to commands worldwide Dr. Jonathan Schroden (Confirmed) Director, Special Operations Program Center for Naval Analyses End of Day 1
December 13, 2018 8:15 8:45 Registration and Light Breakfast Reception Open 8:45 9:00 *Moderator Opening Remarks* Michael Kichman (Confirmed) Founder Asymmetric Operations Group 9:00 9:45 Supporting and Delivering Guidance to Support Mission-Critical Operations - Providing warfighters with a crucial edge by gathering intelligence and coordinating attacks - Planning, coordinating, and conducting information operations to support global deterrence, space, and cyber operations - Supporting combatant commanders operations through operations security and military deception BG Christopher T. Donahue, USA (Confirmed) Deputy Director for Special Operations and Counterterrorism J3, Operations Directorate Joint Staff 9:45 10:30 SOCCENT Initiatives Toward Enabling SOF Capabilities in Support of Regional Stability & U.S. National Interests - Efforts to disrupt and contest threat network ideologies and activities - Integrating USCENTCOM components in sharing rich information for improved agility and effectiveness - Maintaining relationships with foreign partners for increased interoperability and enhanced operating capacity for mission success RADM Hugh W. Howard, USN (Confirmed) Commander SOCCENT 10:30 11:00 Networking Break & Exhibits 11:00 12:30 Top Acquisition Priorities that are Currently Being Undertaken to Mitigate Risk and Speed Up Delivery of Service to Special Operations Forces PEO s from USSOCOM focus on proven technologies when providing vital equipment and resources to combatant commanders. The current focus of is to advance more survivable mobility platforms. This panel will detail the current top acquisition priorities which are: improved terrain following/terrain-avoidance radar capability for rotary/fixed-wing fleets, nextgeneration handheld radios to greatly enhance small-unit connectivity, and multiple operator-borne optics and lasers for improved small unit dominance. This panel will also explain how these acquisition technologies are being developed to further situational awareness and lethality for SOF. Panel Moderator: Ms. Lisa R. Sanders (Confirmed) Director, S&T COL David Phillips, USA (Panelist) (Confirmed) PEO Rotary Wing COL Joel Babbitt, USA (Panelist) (Confirmed) PEO SOF Warrior COL James D. Miller, USA (Panelist) (Confirmed) Director, TALOS Program
12:30-1:30 Ms. Margaret McCaskey (Panelist) (Confirmed) PEO Special Reconnaissance, Surveillance, & Exploitation Networking Lunch 1:30 2:15 Bolstering US control of the Terrorist/Counterterrorist Information Battlefield - Identifying gaps in US Government messaging and counter- messaging capabilities directed toward foreign audiences - Finding credible international partners and providing them with the expertise to accomplish mission objectives - Near-term perspectives on strategic partner engagement and the increasing volatility of the international system Daniel Kimmage (Confirmed) Acting Coordinator, Global Engagement Center US Department of State 2:15 3:00 Detailing Irregular Warfare Challenges: National and International Perspectives -Promoting and supporting research and teaching on IW and Armed Groups -Facilitating interaction and collaboration between professional military institutions, civilian academia, and on-the-ground forces -Delivering direct support to practitioners and special advisors in combat theaters Dr. Andrea Dew (Confirmed) Co-Director Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups Naval War College 3:00 3:45 Efforts to Maintain Readiness for Large-Scale Irregular Warfare -Advancing the various requirements of IW in support of Special Operations Forces -Guiding the understanding of cost, military effectiveness, and time needed for IW measures -Ensuring IW capabilities can be rapidly regenerated on demand Dr. Stephen Watts (Confirmed) Associate Program Director Arroyo Center, Strategy, Doctrine, and Resources Program RAND Corp. 3:45 End of Summit