Defense Secretary James Mattis has said he expects the Defense Department‘s general purpose forces to perform missions currently designated to special operations teams such as support activities in Iraq and Syria, DoD News reported Friday.
Mattis noted the changes will be the result of policy changes as well as the advancement of general purpose forces’ capacities which will involve technologies previously used exclusively by special operations teams including remotely piloted vehicles.
He added the evolution of general purpose forces’ tasks is a product of lessons learned from war and the DoD will work to distribute equipment for troops who will help address current challenges.
The Defense Secretary also said the experiences of war since the 9/11 incident happened have made it difficult to differentiate conventional operating forces from their special operations forces peers.
