The Utility Knife Effect in Special Operations

Abstract

The 9/11 hijackers were armed with mere utility knives – relatively innocuous tools that led to terror attacks the aftershocks of which are still felt today. The ‘utility knife effect’ refers to seemingly unassuming tactical operations deployed in direct action missions, with far-reaching results. Yair Ansbacher and Ron Schleifer highlight the important role special operations forces can play in combating terrorist activity and the changes the West needs to make to enable them to be successful.◼

Notes

1. Colin S Gray, Explorations in Strategy (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996); Colin S Gray, ‘Handfuls of Heroes on Desperate Ventures: When Do Special Operations Succeed?’, Parameters (Vol. 29, No. 1, 1999), pp. 2–24.

2. Jessica Glicken Turnley, Kobi Michael and Eyal Ben-Ari (eds), Special Operations Forces in the 21st Century: Perspectives from the Social Sciences (Abingdon: Routledge, 2019), p. 36.

3. James Marson, ‘Putin Thought Ukraine Would Fall Quickly. An Airport Battle Proved Him Wrong’, Wall Street Journal, 3 March 2022.

4. Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, ‘Vzyatie pod kontrol aerodroma na teritorii Ukraini’ [‘Taking Control of an Airfield on the Territory of Ukraine’], Youtube video, 12 March 2002, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlIQPza9z50>, accessed 15 May 2023.

5. Joseph E Stiglitz and Linda J Bilmes, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict (New York, NY: WW Norton and Company, 2008).

6. Turnley, Michael and Ben-Ari, Special Operations Forces in the 21st Century, p. 36.

7. Eitan Shamir and Eyal Ben-Ari, ‘The Rise of Special Operations Forces: Generalized Specialization, Boundary Spanning and Military Autonomy’, Journal of Strategic Studies (Vol. 4, No. 3, 2018), pp. 335–71. Shamir and Ben-Ari conclude that Western countries are investing more and more resources and bigger budgets in SOF as part of the War on Terror.

8. Steven P Bucci, ‘The US Military’s Big Problem: An Addiction to Special Forces?’, National Interest, 26 February 2018, <https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-us-militarys-big-problem-addiction-special-forces-24657>, accessed 15 May 2023; Micah Zenko, ‘Donald Trump is Pushing America’s Special Forces Past the Breaking Point’, Foreign Policy, 1 August 2018, <https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/01/donald-trump-is-pushing-americas-special-forces-past-the-breaking-point-jsoc-navy-seal/>, accessed 15 May 2023; Dave Philipps, ‘Special Operations Troops Top Casualty List as US Relies More on Elite Forces’, New York Times, 4 February 2017.

9. Bucci, ‘The US Military’s Big Problem’.

10. Jack Watling, ‘Old Habits Die Hard: Special Operations Forces, Twenty Years of Counterterrorism, and the New Era of Great Power Competition’, Modern War Institute, 21 June 2021, <https://mwi.usma.edu/old-habits-die-hard-special-operations-forces-twenty-years-of-counterterrorism-and-the-new-era-of-great-power-competition/>, accessed 15 May 2023.

11. Stavros Atlamazoglou, ‘Navy SEALs are Refocusing to Fight China and Russia’, Business Insider, 19 May 2021, <https://www.businessinsider.com/how-navy-seals-are-refocusing-to-fight-china-and-russia-2021-5>, accessed 15 May 2023.

12. Forrest S Crowell, ‘Navy SEALs Gone Wild: Publicity, Fame, and the Loss of the Quiet Professional’, MA Thesis, Naval Postgraduate School, 2015.

13. Travis Pike, ‘The 5 Best GWOT Video Games According to a GWOT Veteran’, Sandboxx, 3 September 2021, <https://www.sandboxx.us/blog/the-5-best-gwot-video-games-according-to-a-gwot-veteran/>, accessed 15 May 2023.

14. Mark Bowden, ‘American Special Ops Forces are Everywhere’, The Atlantic, 12 March 2021, <https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/how-special-ops-became-the-solution-to-everything/618080/>, accessed 15 May 2023.

15. Linda Robinson, The Future of US Special Operations Forces, Council Special Report No. 66 (New York, NY: Council on Foreign Relations, 2013), p. 18; Martin Shaw, The New Western Way of War: Risk-Transfer War and Its Crisis in Iraq (Cambridge: Polity, 2005).

16. The Telegraph, ‘Taliban Propaganda Shows “Badri 313” Special Forces Squadron Patrolling Kabul’, Youtube video, 19 August 2021, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naeVceFJmZs>, accessed 15 May 2023; Al Manar TV, ‘The Mighty Hezbollah in Snow’, 16 February 2022, <https://english.almanar.com.lb/1537450>, accessed 15 May 2023.

17. Author interview with Dr Yoaz Hendel (former officer in Shayetet 13 and a historian, former Israeli Minister of Communications), Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, 27 February 2017.

18. Pete Nealen, ‘The Dangers of Hero Worship’, SOFREP, 23 November 2014, <https://sofrep.com/news/dangers-of-sof-hero-worship/>, accessed 15 May 2023.

19. Robert G Spulak, A Theory of Special Operations: The Origin, Qualities and Use of SOF (Hurlburt Field, FL: JSOU Press, 2007).

20. Ulrica Pettersson, ‘“Kill and Tell”: The Cultural Resonance and Reverberation of Creative Nonfiction on Special Operations Forces’, Special Operations Journal (Vol. 4, No. 2, 2018), pp. 232–42.

21. Pete Blaber, The Mission, the Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander (New York, NY: Dutton Caliber, 2008), p. 63.

22. David Ben-Uziel, A Mossad Agent in Southern Sudan: 1969-1971 An Operation Log (Herzlia: Teva Hadvarim, 2017).

23. Arturo Munoz, US Military Information Operations in Afghanistan: Effectiveness of Psychological Operations 2001–2010 (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2012).

24. David Albright, Olli Heinonen and Andrea Stricker, ‘The Iranian Nuclear Archive: Implications and Recommendations’, Institute for Science and International Security and Foundation for Defense of Democracies, 25 February 2019, <https://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-reports/documents/Overview_of_Nuclear_Archive_Findings_and_Policy_Steps_Final_(1).pdf>, accessed 5 July 2023.

25. Psywarrior, ‘Bosnia’, <https://www.psywarrior.com/bosnia.html>, accessed 16 July 2023.

26. Pratash Katoch, Special Operations Case Studies (Delhi: Lancer Publishers, 2019).

27. Sean Spoonts, ‘Russia Claims Ukrainian Commandos Attempted to Storm Nuclear Plant’, SOFREP, 2 September 2022, <https://sofrep.com/news/russia-claims-ukrainian-commandos-attempted-to-storm-nuclear-plant-we-smell-a-rat/>, accessed 2 June 2023.

28. US Military Videos, ‘US Army Rangers Jump Into Afghanistan – Operation Rhino (2001)’, Youtube video, 19 June 2009, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFk6BmHEROE>, accessed 15 May 2023.

29. Michael R Gordon and Bernard E Trainor, Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq (New York, NY: Vintage Books, 2007), p. 107.

30. As is known, no WMD were found by the forces of the coalition, which tremendously embarrassed the Bush administration.

31. Gordon and Trainor, Cobra II.

32. Ibid.

33. TheFamousPictures, ‘Jessica Lynch Rescue Army Video’, Youtube video, 26 June 2010, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYtmUx4nHco>, accessed 15 May 2023.

34. CNN, ‘See Stunning First Images from Al-Baghdadi Raid’, 30 October 2019.

35. Israeli Air Force, ‘Mivtza had v’halak: Heil Ha’avir b’milhemet Levanon hasheniah’ [‘Operation Hard and Smooth: Air Force in the Second Lebanon War’], Youtube video, 23 May 2011, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WYn7gQHSWY>, accessed 15 May 2023.

36. The IDF Spokesmen Unit arranged the captured weapons and ammunition on the wharf expecting TV crews to come and film the static objects laying on the ground. Kan News, ‘Drama b’yam ha’adom: Tiud meyuhad shel lechidat sefinat hateror Karine A’ [‘Drama in the Red Sea: Special Documentation of the Capture of the Terrorist Ship Karine A’], Youtube video, 13 October 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om_XBi_hiV4>, accessed 15 May 2023.

37. Anochi, ‘Panorama – What Happened on the Flotilla to Gaza.flv’, Youtube video, 21 August 2010, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXiJ2wP6Pk>, accessed 15 May 2023.

38. Avraham Levine, ‘Nasrallah – Leading Hezbollah’s Information Warfare’, Alma Research and Education Center, 1 July 2021, <https://israel-alma.org/2021/07/01/nasrallah-leading-hezbollahs-information-warfare/>, accessed 15 May 2023; CBS News, ‘Missile Hits Israeli Warship’, 15 July 2006, <https://www.cbsnews.com/news/missile-hits-israeli-warship/>, accessed 15 May 2023.

39. Aswan120, ‘CNN about JUBA’, Youtube video, 26 December 2008, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXK2HRffa24>, accessed 15 May 2023.

40. Gilbert Ramsay, ‘Relocating the Virtual War’, Defence Against Terrorism Review (Vol. 2, No. 1, 2009), pp. 31–50.

41. On Hezbollah’s PSYOP, see Sandor Fabian, Professional Irregular Defense Forces: The Other Side of COIN, Master’s thesis (Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 6 January 2012).

42. Nashab, ‘The Emergence of International Equipment in the Possession of Members of the Al-Qassam Brigades’, Arab Defense Forum, 13 December 2017, <https://defense-arab.com/vb/threads/119301/page-3>, accessed 15 May 2023.

43. Yeshiva World, ‘Watch: Islamic Jihad Posts Video of Missile Attack on Israeli Car’, 10 May 2021, <https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/1972592/watch-islamic-jihad-posts-video-of-missile-attack-on-israeli-car.html>, accessed 15 May 2023.

44. Orient News, ‘He Bid Farewell to His Mother a Few Days Ago. A Commander in the Fourth Division Militia Returns to His Mother with a Coffin (Photos)’, 21 June 2020, <https://orient-news.net/ar/news_show/181697>, 21 June 2023.

45. Jim Miklaszewski, ‘Avoiding Attacking Suspect Terrorist Mastermind’, NBC News, 3 March 2004.

46. BBC News, ‘“Zarqawi” Beheaded US Man in Iraq’, 13 May 2004.

47. Financial Times, ‘Turkey’s Armed Drones Bolster Erdogan’s Hard-Power Tactics’, 7 October 2020.

48. Bernd Horn, James D Kiras and Emily Spencer (eds), The (In)Visible Hand: Strategic Sabotage Case Studies (Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Special Forces Command, 2021), p. 221.

49. William H McRaven, Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare Theory and Practice, (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1996).

50. Emanuel Fabian, ‘GoPro Cameras on Hamas Gunmen Capture How Terror Group Broke into Israel’, Times of Israel, 18 October 2023, <https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/gopro-cameras-on-hamas-gunmen-capture-how-terror-group-broke-into-israel/>, accessed 5 December 2023.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yair Ansbacher

Yair Ansbacher is a doctoral student at Ariel University, a military researcher specialising in special forces.

Ron Schleifer

Dr Ron Schleifer is a senior lecturer at the School of Communication in Ariel University, specialising in PSYOPS.