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Combatant Commands Research Guide

Unified Geographic and Functional Combatant Commands of the United States Department of Defense

Introduction

US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM or SOCOM) is headquartered in MacDill Air Force Base, Florida and one of four functional combatant commands of the United States.

Special Operations Command: Mission and Vision | Core Activities | SOF Truths

Special Operations Command: Posture Statement

Use this page to find selected resources on the study of the US Special Operations Command and support operations in the space domain, including references, books, research reports, articles, journals and websites.

Key DoD Research Institution

Joint Special Operations University logo Joint Special Operations University

Premier DoD academic institution serving professionals in special operations forces.

Command Library | Forums | Press Publications

 

Background Research

Books

To look for an ebook, enter your search terms and click Search:

Print Collection:  Use Online Catalog to find printed book titles at the library, some also available in digital form.

Research Reports

Security Studies on JSTOR is an excellent resource to find research reports from different policy institutes in the field of security studies.  Keyword is the default search in JSTOR with the option to refine results by publication year, content type and subject.  Advanced Search allows more precise searching. 

Below are some reports from this collection:

A variety of quality, open access reports are also available from government and private research organizations.  Important sources include:

Below is a selected list of reports from different research and government institutions:

Journals

Enter Journal Title to check for full-text availability and coverage periods in all library collections:

Search Terms

There are many research topics for the study of military and security studies. Below is a selected list of search terms that may be helpful to find information on security issues or threats facing the United States Special Operations Command:

  • Armed conflict
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Biotechnologies
  • Border threats
  • Civil affairs
  • Civil conflict / war
  • Civil resistance
  • Clandestine operations
  • Climate change
  • Conflict resolution
  • Counterinsurgency
  • Counternarcotics
  • Counterterrorism
  • Corruption
  • Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • De-escalation
  • Diplomacy
  • Drug trafficking
  • Energy security
  • Environmental security
  • Ethno-Religious conflict
  • External support
  • Force protection
  • Foreign intervention
  • Future threats
  • Genocide
  • Gray Zone activities
  • Great power competition
  • Human security
  • Humanitarian operations
  • Illegal narcotics
  • Information warfare
  • Innovation
  • Insurgency
  • Internally Displaced Persons
  • Irregular warfare
  • Islamic extremism
  • Leveraging
  • Low-intensity conflict
  • Machine learning
  • Maritime security
  • Migration
  • Militancy
  • Mineral resources
  • Multi-domain operations
  • Narcotics trade
  • Nationalism
  • Natural resources
  • Nuclear weapons
  • Organized crime
  • Partnerships
  • Peacekeeping
  • Political oppression
  • Political stability
  • Political violence
  • Psychological operations
  • Radicalism
  • Reconstruction support
  • Refugees
  • Regional cooperation
  • Resistance movements
  • Resource competition
  • Resource security
  • Robotics
  • Sabotage
  • Sectarianism
  • Situational awareness
  • Stability operations
  • Strategic competition
  • Terrorism
  • Transnational crime
  • Unconventional warfare
  • Violent extremism
  • Violent Extremist Org (VEO)
  • WMD