Home

Foreword

Australian and
U.S. Forces
Strengthening
Regional Security

Philippine and U.S. Forces Provide Disaster Relief for Typhoon Victims

International HIV/Aids Conference

Building Global Networks to Combat Security Threats

Philippine Brig. Gen. Victor S. Ibrado told attendees, “success in counter-terrorism can only occur when nations share information.” He added that unilateral action cannot defeat transnational terrorism. Only a multinational, combined approach to information sharing and combined training can help set the conditions for effective counter-terrorism initiatives.

ISOF Week attendees learned that security impacts in one country today would impact another country tomorrow and a third the day after. Security concerns are synergistic, evolutionary, and interwoven because, as General Brown said, “[Narcotics] traffickers, high-seas pirates, terrorists, and common criminals desperately seek to exploit the operational, legal, and cultural seams that may exist between governments.” Participants acknowledged the importance of a multinational approach to countering these threats.

ISOF Week attendees agreed that they could no longer be content to react to a security concern only after a situation has occurred. Lt. Gen. Pamook U-Thaichaya, Commander of the Royal Thai Army Special Warfare Command, said that prevention – dealing with the underlying causes of insurgency – “is always better than reacting.” Other senior leaders echoed his comments and agreed that attacking underlying problems is more productive than, as one officer put it, “targeting the bad guys.” Lt. Gen. U-Thaichaya explained the importance of training in combined operations to address the complicated problems associated with insurgency and terrorism.

Attendees discussed the vast differences that each country has when operating within the legal, political, and social settings inside and outside their borders. These security “gaps” are where the terrorists seek to operate. SOF leaders agreed that increased information sharing and combined training exercises can eliminate many of these “gaps.” Several Asia-Pacific SOF representatives, whose countries are not fully engaged with the U.S. on global security issues, expressed the need to reevaluate the engagement and re-engagement strategies of all concerned nations in order to create a more flawless security posture in the region.

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. David P. Fridovich, Commander of Special Operations Command, Pacific, discussed the benefits of increased inter-regional combined training as well. All recognized that the SOF assets available to each country are very limited. For example, if the U.S. does not have enough SOF assets available to conduct combined training with an Asia-Pacific partner nation because of other commitments, perhaps a security partner from the European theater could conduct the training. Brig. Gen. Fridovich noted that many SOF personnel around the world have operational experience in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. He added that everyone could benefit from these special operators sharing their extensive knowledge and training with nations from other geographic regions.

As ISOF Week progressed, each Asia-Pacific representative showed an increased understanding of how their country’s problems – including drug trafficking, WMD proliferation, human trafficking, and terrorism – are also faced by other nations in the region. Attendees acknowledged that countering terrorism will also reduce other internal problems that support terrorist activities.

Closing
U.S. Vice President Richard B. Cheney provided the closing speech in which he said, “At every stage of this conflict, we have looked to the special operations forces to carry out the most perilous, most technical, most time-sensitive, and least visible missions.” The Vice President reinforced the conference’s theme of global cooperation and security by noting that in the Global War on Terrorism, “...with good allies by our side, we will see this through to victory.”

Vice President Cheney added, “Terrorists are constantly attempting to evade our strengths and to search for our weaknesses in order to find ways to strike once again. And the greatest danger to civilization is the prospect of a terror network. Special ops also remind us of the global focus we need to win the battle against terror and weapons proliferation. SOCOM units have joined with special ops from almost every country represented here today, on a broad range of missions – from counterinsurgency to counter-narcotics, to interdiction of illicit materials, to having a ready response for the Olympic Games. Looking around the room, I see the diversity of our planet, but an identity of interests. None of us wants to turn over the future of mankind to tiny groups of fanatics committing indiscriminate murder and plotting large-scale horror. And so, we must direct every resource necessary to defending the peace and freedom of our world, and the safety of the people we serve.”

The ISOF conference reinforced existing relationships and helped build new ones with the common goal of greater security. For all attendees the message of ISOF Week was clear – confronting and defeating the local, regional, and international security threats that we all face requires multinational cooperation and global solutions.