An American Foreign Legion in USSOCOM

This paper examines the model of the French Foreign Legion to fill a critical skill gap within the Department of Defense. U.S. history is filled with the recruitment and utilization of foreign born military service members. Despite security concerns that have stalled the Military Accession Vital to the National Interest program, there still exists a strong draw for foreign nationals to join the U.S. military to fast track U.S. citizenship. The U.S. needs to establish a Special Operations Command led American Foreign Legion. This Special Operations Force American Foreign Legion would be led by Special Operations officers and Staff NCOs who could capitalize on the legionnaires cultural and language skills.