Secretary of Defense Austin rolls back Trump-era policy on special ops

[Nevilledog]

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Lara Seligman
@laraseligman
SCOOP: @SecDef is rolling back his predecessor’s last-minute decision to elevate the top civilian Pentagon official overseeing SOF matters, continuing the Biden admin's broader trend of undoing Trump-era policies at the Pentagon.

Austin rolls back Trump-era policy on special ops
A change in November elevated the Pentagon civilian overseeing special operations matters.
politico.com
10:52 AM · May 5, 2021

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/05/lloyd-austin-defense-special-ops-policy-485432?2

Ezra Cohen, who served in the special operations job on an acting basis under Trump, defended Miller's change, saying that an "independent SOLIC will not diminish" policy coordination, but rather will allow the position "to be singularly focused on their statutory responsibility of providing civilian oversight" of special operations forces.

He also indicated that the move to split the position's responsibilities is misguided, noting that the "dual reporting chain while simultaneously meeting congressional intent is not proven."

The change is not a demotion, one of the officials said, rather an “optimization” of the reform Miller initiated. In particular, the person said the move to make the special operations role a principal staff assistant is a “sea change” for the community. The second official noted that while Miller initiated the change, it was not fully implemented until recently.

There is “a whole flight of meetings that ASD SOLIC or his senior reps are participating in now that we were shut out of prior, so we’re really happy to see that,” the first official said. “The voice of ASD SOLIC is being heard in these fora.”

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