Civil Affairs, Psyops Shift Away From SOCOM
22 March Jane's Defence Weekly - Civil Affairs, Psyops Shift Away From SOCOM
Quote:
The majority of US civil affairs and psychological operations (psyops) forces are to be shifted from US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) to the conventional US Army, senior military officials have said...
Under the new structure, civil affairs and psyops units will be associated with active-duty brigade combat teams, with which they will train and deploy consistently...
About 80 per cent of the army's total civil affairs and psyops forces are reserves, totalling roughly 9,000 soldiers. The army is also expanding its active-duty civil affairs forces, converting its one battalion into a brigade and increasing the size of the one active psyops group.
The shift dovetails with another recent initiative from Rumsfeld's office, to put stability and support operations on an equal footing with combat operations.
One part of that plan, the creation of a civilian corps that can deploy with US military forces and help co-ordinate post-war civilian reconstruction efforts, is also progressing. The US State Department has recruited 400 officials who have volunteered to be part of the Active Response Corps, said Marcia Wong, the department's acting co-ordinator for reconstruction and stabilisation. The corps could potentially deploy with military forces to help co-ordinate stabilisation and reconstruction after a conflict...
