Joint Special Operations Command

Joint Special Operations Command
Abbreviation	JSOC
Parent organization	U.S. Special Operations Command
Headquarters	Fort Bragg
Leader	Joint Special Operations Command/Commander
Type	Special Operations
Subgroups	•  Delta Force •  SEAL Team Six •  24th Special Tactics Squadron •  75th Ranger Regiment •  Task Force Red
Staff	4,000
Performs special operations worldwide, including inside the United States itself, its soldiers operating like the CIA, often alongside them in covert status.

Not to be confused with its superior, U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM). See also US/Army/Special Forces

The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) is a component command of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). It performs special operations worldwide, including inside the United States itself, its soldiers operating like the CIA, often alongside them in covert status.

In a covert program reminding of Gladio, Newsweek in 2022 wrote of the existence of a secret domestic and worldwide army:

The largest undercover force the world has ever known is the one created by the Pentagon over the past decade. Some 60,000 people now belong to this secret army, many working under masked identities and in low profile, all part of a broad program called "signature reduction." The force, more than ten times the size of the clandestine elements of the CIA, carries out domestic and foreign assignments, both in military uniforms and under civilian cover, in real life and online, sometimes hiding in private businesses and consultancies, some of them household name companies.

Methods

James Petras describes the methods used by JSOC forces:

“The point of the 'Special Operations’ teams (SOT) is that they do not distinguish between civilian and military oppositions, between activists and their sympathizers and the armed resistance. The SOT specialize in establishing death squads and recruiting and training paramilitary forces to terrorize communities, neighborhoods and social movements opposing US client regimes. The SOT's 'counter-terrorism' is terrorism in reverse, focusing on socio-political groups between US proxies and the armed resistance. McChrystal's SOT targeted local and national insurgent leaders in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan through commando raids and air strikes.

McChrystal was a special favorite of Rumsfeld and Cheney because he was in charge of the 'direct action' forces of the 'Special Missions Units'. 'Direct Action' operative are the death-squads and torturers and their only engagement with the local population is to terrorize, and not to propagandize. They engage in 'propaganda of the dead', assassinating local leaders to 'teach' the locals to obey and submit to the occupation.”
James Petras (2009) 

Tier 1 units

Since the rapid expansion and use of Special Operations Forces since the 1980s, the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) adopted a four tiered system to delineate between units along command and control, functional and budgetary lines.

JSOC is charged with studying special operations requirements and techniques to ensure interoperability and equipment standardization, to plan and conduct special operations exercises and training, to develop joint special operations tactics, and to execute special operations missions worldwide.

The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) is the component of SOCOM that controls the tier 1 units.

Tier 1 units are commanded by JSOC and are used for activities designated as special missions units. These units perform the highest classified counter terrorism activities designated special missions - approved by the President. JSOC only commands Special Missions Units (SMU) aka Tier 1 aka Elite Special Forces.

The known units are:

• US Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta (Also called Combat Applications Group - CAG, Delta Force and "The Unit")

• US Navy's Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU) (aka SEAL Team Six)

• US Air Force's 24th Special Tactics Squadron (24th STS)

• US Army's 75th Ranger Regiment, Regimental Reconnaissance Company (RRC)

• US Army's Intelligence Support Activity (ISA) (aka Task Force Red)

 

Related Quotations

Page	Quote	Author	Date
Seymour Hersh	“'We're going to change mosques into cathedrals. And when we get hold of all the oil, nobody' s going to give a damn.' That's an attitude that pervades, I'm here to say, a large percentage of the Special Operations Command, the Joint Special Operations Command and Stanley McChrystal, the one who got in trouble because of the article in Rolling Stone, and his follow-on, a Navy admiral named McRaven, Bill McRaven — all are members or at least supporters of Knights of Malta. McRaven attended, so I understand, the recent annual convention of the Knights of Malta they had in Cyprus a few months back in November. They're all believers — many of them are members of Opus Dei. They do see what they are doing — and this is not an atypical attitude among some military — it's a crusade, literally. They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They're protecting them from the Muslims in the 13th century. And this is their function. They have little insignias, they have coins they pass among each other, which are crusader coins, and they have insignia that reflect that, the whole notion that this is a war, it's culture war.”	Seymour Hersh	January 2011
US/Army/Special Forces	“"The Deltas are psychos...You have to be a certified psychopath to join the Delta Force", a US Army colonel from Fort Bragg once told me back in the 1980s.”	James Petras	2009

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References

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