Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) and Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Society Symposium: Irregular Warfare and the OSS Model. Held Tampa, Florida on 2-4 November 2009. Report of Proceedings

The symposium relied on the use of individual presenters and four panels to address both the OSS model and current and future security environments. Additionally, extended video interviews were conducted separately with veterans of the OSS and Afghanistan to capture personal experiences and to analyze the relevance of those experiences for the future. Shorter interviews were also conducted with other attendees during breaks. The cooperation between JSOU and the OSS Society is designed to build a bridge between the experiences and lessons of the OSS and todays special operations community while also tracing the roots of current irregular warfare and other United States Special Operations Command USSOCOM operations back to the OSS model to carve out fresh understandings that may have new relevancy. What was striking was the similarity in the conditions and challenges faced by both the OSS and contemporary veterans. Obviously, technology has changed dramatically. Yet the decisive role of the individual persisted as the central theme for the entire symposium. As one of the Afghan veterans said about the OSS veterans, We must understand who he is, not just what he did. A recurring topic of interest during the symposium involved the selection and assessment process for individual members of the OSS. Quite simply the OSS knew the kinds of exceptional people it wanted, then went out and got them. The OSS had identified the innate skills they needed, such as language and cultural awareness, and the other skills they could train to prepare for specific missions. Each OSS member knew exactly what he or she was about, no matter the mission or its location.