Gen. Bryan Fenton emphasized the importance of early partnerships, persistent development of capabilities, learning from partners, and utilizing emerging technology to counter unprecedented threats during his talk at SOF Week 2023.
At the SOF Week 2023 in Tampa, Florida, the head of US special operations, Gen. Bryan Fenton, spoke about the lessons learned from the American special operations relationship with the Ukrainian military. He emphasized the importance of being there early when it comes to partnering with international forces. The second lesson was to be persistent in developing capabilities that meet the partner’s needs, followed by improving those capabilities by teaching relevant lessons from America’s own experience. The last lesson was to listen and learn from the partner’s experience. Fenton also discussed the unprecedented collision of threats to the international order, ranging from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to non-state actors like ISIS and al Qaeda. He stressed the importance of the special operations community’s focus on emerging technology to counter these threats. Fenton remained optimistic about the waves of change, stating that SOF operators are big wave surfers.
