ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Theater Special Operations Command (TSOC), the sub-unified command within the U.S. Department of Defense’s Geographical Combatant Commands that is responsible for employing Special Operations Forces. It provides a history of the TSOC, starting with its troubled creation in 1983 as an under-resourced and under-empowered headquarters, and how, with the help of how the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, the TSOC became the primary command element for employing Special Operations Forces around the world for counterterrorism, irregular warfare, and other operations. It then offers two vignettes to illustrate the effectiveness of TSOCs at providing policymakers with options.
