United States Special Operations forces target crisis situations — whether natural disasters, civil wars, or terrorist attacks. Special operators engage in risky, Hollywood-ready adventures, hunting down terrorists and militants in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia. They also do less glamorous but vital aid work, such as providing food and water to hurricane victims in Haiti.
Today, the Medill National Security Journalism Initiative unveils results of its “The Age of Special Warfare” project, which involved six months of research and reporting in the U.S. and abroad and provides detailed information and a worldwide map of special operations the U.S. has conducted since 2001, with particular attention to the missions in progress as of the end of 2010.
The goal of the project by NSJI’s Cargegie Fellow Tara McKelvey: provide an overview for journalists and journalism students of this essential but poorly understood section of the American military. See the special report.
