By Sierra Rayne —— Bio and Archives April 21, 2015
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"Congress might wish to review with the Department of Defense, the Services, and USSOCOM all proposed force structure cuts and their potential impact on USSOCOM training and operations. End strength cuts imposed on the Services could adversely affect the pool of volunteers from which special operators as drawn and these cuts, in addition to impacting special operations units, might also affect the TSOCs [Theater Special Operations Command] and enabling units provided by the Services that support USSOCOM. While on a by-Service basis individual unit cuts might seem innocuous, collectively, they could have a highly detrimental impact on USSOCOM and its ability to support the GCCs [Geographic Combatant Commanders]."With the Pentagon's budget already down 21 percent since 2008, and projected to decline to nearly 30 percent below the pre-Obama administration peak by the end of this decade, significant challenges lie ahead for meeting USSOCOM's mandates if the cuts are held in place.
Sierra Rayne holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry and writes regularly on environment, energy, and national security topics. He can be found on Twitter at @srayne_ca