Publications [#357040] of Timothy W. Nichols

Op-eds

1. Nichols, T; Brands, H, special operations forces and great power competition in the 21st Century, American enterprise (Washington, D.C.) (August, 2020), American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
   (last updated on 2026/01/16)

   Abstract:
   America is moving from one era of foreign policy to another: The primacy of counterter-rorism has faded, and competition with authoritarian great powers is the dominant concern. • While special operations forces (SOF) understand that they must play a role in great-power competition, they often lack a clear understanding of what that entails. • SOF can support great-power competition in five ways: gathering information, working with allies and partners, imposing costs, handling crisis response, and undertaking strategic raids. • In addition, retaining competency in counterterrorism is itself a crucial contribution to great-power competition, because suppressing non-state threats is the prerequisite to allowing the rest of the American government to focus on other things.