On Monday, September 21, 2015, the Strauss Center welcomed Colonel Liam Collins, Director of Defense and Strategic Studies Program at the United States Military Academy at West Point, to discuss his research on special operations forces (SOF), counterterrorism and military innovation. The talk was the first in a series this year that is both part of the International Security Speaker Series and Brumley Next Generation Graduate Fellows program.

In his talk “SOF and Military Innovation: The F3EA Cycle and ‘the Network’”, Col. Collins first delineated between peacetime and war innovation. Noting that much of the current literature on innovation does not address war-time innovation, he argued that war innovation is inherently different as it is often driven by an imperative need to address a capability gap. In addition, during a war, the civilian policymakers who are take an active role in military affairs during peacetime are more likely to defer to the military and ensure these gaps the military has identified are addressed.

Col. Collins then expounded upon the role of leadership in military innovation, noting that major innovation requires a deliberate decision by a senior military leader in order to change doctrine, allocate the necessary resources, and initiate organizational change. In discussing the four phases of military innovation (formulation, acceptance, implementation and diffusion), he noted that while formulation and acceptance are primarily bottom-up processes, implementation and diffusion are necessarily top-down processes. He emphasized that an idea could have “100 yesses but only one no” from a senior leader to be tabled.

Finally, Col. Collins presented a case study of U.S. innovation during the early phases of Iraq War. He noted that in the first months of the Iraq war, special operations forces had limited intelligence capabilities in theater. At first charged with a kill-or-capture mission targeting former members of Saddam Hussein’s regime, captured materials and individuals were not exploited for intelligence. Further, once the mission changed to targeting Al Qaeda, there was no common strategy among the various government entities in theater to share and exploit intelligence.

Col. Collins described several major innovations that resulted from the need to address this capability gap.  Many of the innovations targeted forming “the network” (interagency cooperation), including the establishment of the Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF), the deployment of liaison officers, and increasing the ability to share information between different agencies in Washington and in the field. This resulted in increased intelligence and operations capabilities. Col. Collins noted that in April 2004, SOF completed ten operations in a month, and by 2007 they were completed upwards of 30 a night.

Col. Collins is the Director of West Point’s Defense and Strategic Studies Program. He is a career special forces officer who has served in a variety of special operations assignments and has conducted multiple combat operations to both Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as operational deployments to Bosnia, Africa, and South America. He has graduated from numerous military courses including ranger school. He has earned numerous military awards and decorations, including two valorous awards for his actions in combat. His research centers on military innovation during times of war. He has taught courses on homeland security and defense, international relations, and American politics.

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