Bradley, a Navy SEAL officer who most recently commanded Joint Special Operations Command, will also get a fourth star.

He was nominated for the role by President Donald Trump in early June.

Bradley will take the reins at SOCOM — which has been an early adopter of many cutting-edge technologies like AI within the Defense Department — as America’s special operations forces work to modernize and prepare for competition with more advanced adversaries.

“The changing, accelerating pace of technology, the ubiquitous information environment, and the advent of man-machine teamed autonomy on the battlefields of the world today are absolutely changing the character of warfare … in our very eyes,” he said last week during his confirmation hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee.

He added that legislative proposals such as the FORGED Act and SPEED Act, and other initiatives to reform DOD acquisitions and speed up the fielding of new tech, are “critical to allowing us to use the innovative spirit of our operators to be able to capture those problems and opportunities we see on the battlefield and turn them into new man-machine teamed approaches.”

Bradley also called for “fusing all-domain capabilities” to gain advantages over adversaries, endorsing the so-called “irregular triad” concept that includes SOF, space and cyber capabilities.

“The pervasive technical surveillance environment presents both unique challenges and unprecedented opportunities. Recognizing this, I am committed to strengthening the Space-SOF-Cyber triad, leveraging the combined strengths of USSPACECOM and USCYBERCOM to ensure SOF’s operational effectiveness in support of national security objectives,” Bradley wrote in response to advance policy questions from senators ahead of his confirmation hearing.

“My vision encompasses integrating technological advancements across all domains — physical and virtual — including surface and subsurface maritime platforms; autonomous uncrewed systems; counter-unmanned systems; next-generation intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; stand-off precision effects; and modernized mission command systems,” he added.

Bradley is a U.S. Naval Academy grad who later earned a master’s degree in physics from the Naval Postgraduate School.

According to his Navy bio, he was among the first U.S. servicemembers to deploy to Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

He later served as commander of Special Operations Command Central, which oversees joint special operations throughout the Middle East region, and Naval Special Warfare Development Group, among other leadership positions in the SOF community. He also served with SEAL Team Four and SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team Two.

Bradley’s staff duty positions have included assistant commander, Joint Special Operations Command, JSOC J-3 technical operations division chief and deputy J-3, vice deputy director for global operations for the Joint Staff J-3, executive officer for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and deputy director for CT strategy for the Joint Staff J-5, according to his bio.

He will succeed Gen. Bryan Fenton, a career Green Beret officer, as SOCOM commander.

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The move comes amid a broader modernization push by special ops forces and the Defense Department to add new digital tools and robotic platforms to their arsenal.

In a new subsection for “Advanced Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence,” the amended BAA for technology development noted that SOF is keen on “modular, open integration” of cutting‐edge solutions incorporating AI and machine learning to enable enhanced autonomy in unmanned systems.

“Specific areas of interest include but are not limited to agentic AI and vision language action (VLA) models to achieve more sophisticated autonomous behaviors like adaptive learning; neural radiance fields (NeRFs) for 3D scene representation and navigation; generative AI for simulation and data augmentation; advanced automatic target recognition (ATR) algorithms with edge node refinement and autonomous model retraining; advanced machine learning operations (MLOPs) to support data management, model training, validation, and monitoring,” officials wrote.

They noted that proposed solutions need to be designed with well‐defined interfaces and adherence to open standards to promote interoperability and integration into existing architectures.

Earlier this year, the command re-released its “SOF Renaissance” strategic vision, which observed that innovations in AI, autonomous systems and cyber tools are reshaping warfare and enhancing targeting and strike capabilities.

The document calls for commando forces to be early adopters of these types of technologies. SOCOM has been on the cutting-edge before as an early DOD user of the Maven Smart System, for example.

“The distinction between optimizing and generative AI is crucial and will be a game changer. Swarms of low-cost drones and remote explosive devices, using AI and autonomy, blur traditional human-machine boundaries on the battlefield. SOF must also use these systems to improve decisionmaking and situational awareness,” officials wrote in the strategy.

Vice Adm. Frank Bradley, the current commander of Joint Special Operations Command who’s been nominated by President Donald Trump to be head of SOCOM, said the use of innovative drone capabilities and tactics in places like Ukraine and the Middle East have ushered in a “revolution in military affairs.”

“The changing, accelerating pace of technology, the ubiquitous information environment, and the advent of man-machine teamed autonomy on the battlefields of the world today are absolutely changing the character of warfare … in our very eyes,” Bradley said last week during his confirmation hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee.

He added that legislative proposals such as the FORGED Act and SPEED Act, and other initiatives to reform DOD acquisitions and speed up the fielding of new tech, are “critical to allowing us to use the innovative spirit of our operators to be able to capture those problems and opportunities we see on the battlefield and turn them into new man-machine teamed approaches.”

The amendment to the BAA comes just two weeks after the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office announced the award of $200 million contracts to multiple vendors for “frontier AI” projects.

“The adoption of AI is transforming the Department’s ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries,” CDAO Doug Matty said in a statement accompanying that announcement. “Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our Joint mission essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business, and enterprise information systems.”

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The nomination was submitted Monday and referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee for consideration.

The official who holds the ASD SO/LIC job “oversees and advocates for Special Operations and Irregular Warfare throughout the Department of Defense to ensure these capabilities are resourced, ready, and properly employed in accordance with the National Defense Strategy,” according to a Defense Department description of the position.

They’re responsible for exercising “authority, direction, and control of all special operations peculiar issues relating to the organization, training, and equipping of special operations forces,” as well as advising the undersecretary of defense for policy on special ops and irregular warfare policy issues.

Anderson has most recently been serving as acting assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs, a job that he was appointed to in April. Previously, he was director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council during the early months of Trump’s second term.

He also has an extensive military background in the Army and special operations community, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, among other locations. He served as a Green Beret from 2010 to 2016, including as Special Forces company executive officer and Operational Detachment Alpha commander. Prior to that, he was an infantry platoon leader. He’s currently a lieutenant colonel in the District of Columbia Army National Guard, according to his official Army bio.

Anderson unsuccessfully ran for Congress as the Republican nominee in Virginia’s 7th District during the 2024 election cycle. Trump endorsed Anderson in that race.

Trump previously tapped Air Force veteran Michael Jensen for the ASD SO/LIC job but his nomination was withdrawn last month without explanation.

Christopher Maier was the last person to be Senate-confirmed as ASD SO/LIC. He served in that role during the Biden administration.

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The notice did not provide an explanation for the move, which occurred May 12.

White House spokespeople did not respond to DefenseScoop’s questions about the decision to withdraw the nomination.

Last month, CBS News reported that Jensen was being considered for another position with the White House National Security Council.

The official who holds the ASD SO/LIC job “oversees and advocates for Special Operations and Irregular Warfare throughout the Department of Defense to ensure these capabilities are resourced, ready, and properly employed in accordance with the National Defense Strategy,” according to a Defense Department description of the position.

They’re responsible for exercising “authority, direction, and control of all special operations peculiar issues relating to the organization, training, and equipping of special operations forces,” as well as advising the undersecretary of defense for policy on special ops and irregular warfare policy issues.

Jensen held leadership positions in the SOF community during his military career. Some of his most notable duty assignments included 26th Special Tactics Squadron commander and deputy commander of the 724th Special Tactics Group, which are part of Air Force Special Operations Command.

He also served as a strategy lead in the Air Force’s Checkmate office at the Pentagon.

Trump tapped Jensen for the ASD SO/LIC role in February, but the Senate Armed Services Committee didn’t hold a confirmation hearing for him before the nomination was withdrawn this week.

The duties of ASD SO/LIC are currently being performed by Colby Jenkins, an Army Special Forces veteran. Christopher Maier held that role in a Senate-confirmed capacity during the Biden administration.

At the SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida, earlier this month, Jenkins said the special ops community needs “multidomain” formations that can wage high-tech warfare using AI, cyber and electronic warfare capabilities, among other tools, according to a Defense Department news release.

“The future of SOF is relentless: smaller teams, faster decisions, smarter systems [and] harder targets,” Jenkins said.

He noted that commandos’ know-how and human performance on the battlefield will also be critical.

“Because in the end, it is not the weapon, the drone, or the system that wins the contest. It is the person who knows when and how to use all of that technology and who refuses to quit; that person secures victory for us,” Jenkins said, according to the release.

In February, U.S. Special Operations Command published an updated strategy called “SOF Renaissance,” that lays out SOCOM’s vision for how the force needs to transform to meet future challenges by adopting new technologies and other reforms, including modernization efforts geared toward surface and subsurface maritime platforms; next-generation intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; mission command systems; and collaborative and autonomous unmanned systems.

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Special operations forces are expected to be part of the Corps’ so-called stand-in force operating inside adversaries’ weapons engagement zones. In that sense, the fight might not be that different than World War II. However, new technologies are creating new challenges and opportunities, suggested Maj. Gen. Peter Huntley, commander of MARSOC.

“Everything’s the same but everything’s changing, right? So, you know, the characteristics … that are going to be in the fight at the tactical edge, it’s going to be very similar to what, you know, our grandfathers saw right in the Pacific campaign. It’s going to be freaking rough and nasty and all that stuff like that. So the direct fire engagements are going to be the direct fire engagements. However, in a tactical situation, your ability to sense that tactical opponent is going to be a lot more complex — whether it’s small [unmanned aerial systems], whether it’s … better vision, whether it’s a small tactical unit being able to have an operational impact because they can sense something because of increased technology, and they’re going to be able to push that information back into a bigger joint force at the operational level,” he told DefenseScoop during a meeting with reporters at the Modern Day Marine conference.

Raiders’ roles won’t just be to shoot and kill the enemy, officials have emphasized. They’ll also be expected to enable joint fires and maneuver, maritime domain sensing, “multi-domain effects,” special reconnaissance, and multi-discipline intelligence fusion.

Huntley envisions AI capabilities lending a helping hand for those types of SOF missions.

“For us, I see the biggest place is the aggregation of data, right? The automation … of the intelligence cycle and how to be at the cutting edge of that. Because that’s going to … drive the speed of your [observation, decision-making and action] loop,” he said. “If you’re a slow adapter on that front, you’re going to find yourself on the wrong side of that equation, and that’s not a good place to be, right? So for us to be able to be a small accelerator, if you will, for the stand-in force, to be able to illuminate, be able to aggregate that data, and be able to push that data, that’s where I see AI — as it comes on and becomes more prominent — that’s where I see that having the most profound impact.”

MARSOC is also adding small drones to its arsenal. Huntley said SOF is on the cusp of a “breakthrough” in that area, thanks in part to investments in the technology made by larger components of the Defense Department.

“In terms of loitering munitions, we have our initial capability now. I’ll leave it at that for now. But we have that capability now, it’s layered into the force. For small UAS, yes, we have a capability. However, we’re getting ready to make a breakthrough here … Where it’s going is where the small UASs at the tactical edge are ubiquitous, right? Whether it’s for the purpose of sensing, that’s the tactical fight I was talking about, or whether it’s for sensing and lethality,” he told DefenseScoop. “For the bigger stuff — that’s been around for a while — but the small stuff, you know, at the squad or team or individual level, I think we’re getting ready to achieve that.”

Lt. Col. Matt Deffenbaugh, commanding officer of 3rd Marine Raider Support Battalion, said loitering munitions — also known as one-way attack UAS or kamikaze drones — provide another “organic” precision weapon for special operations forces.

“Being able to push that, like every other capability, how far forward can we push it and what’s the lowest level we can get that capability to? And so that provides a small team with a lethal capability that they’re able to put on the forward edge of the battlefield without having to have a large logistics train or large platforms to carry the system into combat with them,” he told DefenseScoop.

MARSOC’s interests in the unmanned systems space aren’t limited to loitering munitions, first-person-view drones and quadcopters — although those are in demand.

“Don’t just think about things that fly. Think about things that go on water, things that go underwater, things that go on the ground,” Huntley said.

However, MARSOC isn’t just looking for tech wizards to join its ranks. Raiders have to meet high physical standards and be prepared for “brutal” warfare, he noted.

“How we select and assess people is … you’re gonna have to be tough, rough and all that kind of stuff — 100 percent. You’re gonna have to know your weapon, your personal weapon system. You’re probably gonna have additional systems that you’re gonna have to be able to employ, whether it’s a UAS or fill in the blank — who knows what’s coming next. But also you’re gonna … have to be thinking at the tactical [about] how do I live, thrive and survive, and then how do I create effects for the — that will enable the joint force? All that’s happening not at [Maj.] Gen. Huntley’s level. It’s not happening at even the task force commander’s level. It’s happening at team leader or team chief level, at the … captains, the majors, the staff sergeants, or the gunnies,” Huntley said. “It’s probably gonna be an element that’s pretty damn small as well. Like, it’s pretty darn small, like maybe a handful of people, right? So that’s kind of the way we look at it … That’s the thinking that’s driving kind of our force development.”

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The department is conducting market research to inform its pursuit of new radios, antennas and datalinks that can be integrated into drones for commandos to conduct swarm ops.

Via a new pre-solicitation issued Wednesday, officials aim to better understand vendors’ capabilities to provide “Dynamic multi-domain communications capabilities/services within, and/or to, a sUAS swarm in contested and denied environments” and “Data relay (ranging in size and complexity from simple status messages to full motion video) to/from stations inside denied and contested environments.”

The Defense Department expects to begin integrating and fielding these types of capabilities in 18 to 30 months, according to the document. To meet those timelines, officials are interested in items with high technological readiness levels and manufacturing readiness levels.

The program office is encouraging responses from non-traditional vendors and companies that can offer “novel or unconventional approaches” to enable the multi-domain communications and data relay capabilities for Group 2 and/or Group 3 drones, which are on the smaller end of the UAS spectrum.

“There is an expectation to field additional platforms beyond the initial effort. Should [the U.S. government] field initial operational systems, conceivable upgrade cycles could follow regularly. USG may replace any component or integrator during such cycles to maximize operational capabilities with best-in-class technologies,” officials wrote.

U.S. Special Operations Command’s “SOF Renaissance” strategy document, which was re-released in February, noted that “collaborative and autonomous unmanned systems” are an important element of the organization’s modernization plans.

“AI and uncrewed systems are changing warfare through increased automation and autonomy. This leads to more precise targeting and reduced risk to human personnel,” officials wrote. “Swarms of low-cost drones and remote explosive devices, using AI and autonomy, blur traditional human-machine boundaries on the battlefield. SOF must also use these systems to improve decision-making and situational awareness.”

These types of capabilities will enable commando teams to “punch far above their weight,” according to SOCOM.

“Using artificial intelligence to enhance warfighter performance and decision-making further enables new lightweight precision weapons and uncrewed systems to expand SOF’s lethal and non-lethal capabilities,” officials wrote.

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The SOFWERX innovation hub and SOCOM’s program executive office for tactical information systems are gearing up for assessment events to evaluate industry solutions.

The office intends to “explore available capabilities that can support USSOCOM’s vision for a configurable uncrewed air/ground system. This system should enable the Warfighter to adapt and respond to evolving multidomain mission sets, providing a flexible and dynamic solution that can be tailored to meet the unique demands of modern warfare,” according to a special notice.

The technology could support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, allowing commandos to employ small drones or ground robots for tasks such as area observation, target tracking and battle damage assessment.

“This innovative approach enables operators to rapidly reconfigure and tailor their systems to meet specific ISR mission requirements by swapping out interchangeable parts and components from an assembly package. The assembly package will include modular frames, propulsion systems, a sensor, and payload modules (such as electro-optical, infrared, and signals intelligence sensors), power and energy modules, control and navigation systems, and communication systems, allowing Warfighters to quickly adapt to changing mission requirements,” officials wrote in the document, noting that the ground robot capability could be used in areas that aren’t as conducive to deploying unmanned aerial systems — such as places with buildings or heavy tree cover that would obscure the view of sensors on UAS flying overhead.

Officials didn’t specify whether the uncrewed systems should be tele-operated or fly and drive with a high level of autonomy. However, SOCOM has previously shown interest in AI and other technologies that could enable autonomous capabilities for ISR ops.

SOFWERX is planning to host a collaboration event with industry in April to discuss operational needs and assess “current capabilities of production model solutions for a configurable multidomain system.”

The next phase will include vendor submissions for a follow-on assessment event, which is slated to take place in July after a downselect.

Following the assessments, SOCOM may negotiate awards with vendors whose solutions are favorably evaluated.

Industry responses to the special notice are due March 24.

This initiative isn’t the first time that SOCOM has shown an interest in “multidomain” uncrewed systems. Just a few months ago, the command released a special notice about its desire for micro drones that could be launched from a variety of platforms and operate in multiple domains — including in the air and underwater.

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Sonic Spear, beginning in April with elements peppered into other exercises throughout the year, will be SOCOM’s first opportunity as a combatant command to host such an event as opposed to tabletop exercises. The gathering will test the command’s ability to synchronize joint special operations effects from seabed to low-Earth orbit in support of the joint force and integrate those to support a joint task force commander, according to a command spokesperson.

Overall, the event will help validate how service components to SOCOM provide forces to it and geographic combatant commands, exercising those offerings and integrating them into a truly joint special operations force presentation, they added.

Special ops forces, much like the conventional units within the U.S. military, are taking a harder look at how to integrate capabilities seamlessly across all the domains of warfare. Commandos and conventional forces have historically been too siloed in their approaches to employing capabilities, looking at single domains rather than a more integrated arrangement.

The exercise will also help SOCOM look at different technologies, such as robotics, and the future investments it might need in those areas.

“Let’s look at our investments. We have a lot of autonomy investments happening across the force. We want to hold ourselves accountable … Robots can do what we told them to do. They can drop track quality data into the Joint Fires Network, theater agnostic, and then all those actions put together can support, again, the SOF effects that support joint SOF maneuver,” Lt. Gen. Francis Donovan, vice commander of SOCOM, said Feb. 20 at the Special Operations Symposium hosted by NDIA. “Sonic Spear 25 is our first go at this. That’s where we’re going to look at again, seabed to low-Earth orbit, what are our gaps and seams? Let’s push our autonomous investments, some other investments we’re making … and what do our forward forces need to be able to control ourselves, control our robots and then link in with the joint force.”

This all builds towards SOCOM’s eventual model for an emerging O-6 — colonel or Navy captain — level multi-domain special operations task force.  

Special ops historically has integrated multiple O-5 — lieutenant colonel or Navy commander — and O-6 forces from individual components under a general or admiral. The new model under development will look to integrate those joint special operations forces at the O-6 level to enable them across each domain, to include space and cyber.

With the need to integrate capabilities seamlessly across domains, combined with adversary actions that will disperse friendly forces, the forthcoming task force will allow commando formations to conduct synchronized operations at levels historically held at higher echelons, the SOCOM spokesperson said.

“That is our first step to moving forward of a SOF force presentation model that looks a little different from the past. We’ll eventually have a multi-domain special operations task force at the O-6 level that can synchronize SOF effects, seabed to low-Earth orbit in support of the joint force. Yes, that’s what we’re building towards. But we have to start somewhere,” Donovan said of Sonic Spear 25.

While this year will be relatively rudimentary as the first instantiation, he said officials hope to evolve it — adding in electromagnetic interference, for example — culminating in 2027 with “a joint SOF force offering.”

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The so-called cyber-special operations forces-space triad or “irregular triad,” is a partnership between the three disciplines to deliver capabilities and outcomes greater than the sum of its parts, leveraging the unique access and authorities of each contributor. While officials explained this fusion of capabilities came about in tabletop exercises years ago, the Army began putting it into practice with its relevant components and it’s now making its way to the joint four-star combatant commands.

The strategic environment for the U.S. military is significantly more complex now than it has been in years past, requiring more and different options to deter adversary activity around the globe.

“Some of our adversaries are demonstrating a degree of skill and effectiveness in their employment of irregular warfare that the United States has difficulty matching and the United States has difficulty dealing with,” Mike Nagata, corporate strategic advisor at CACI and a retired three-star general with decades of special operations experience, said Thursday during a panel at the Special Operations Symposium hosted by NDIA. “Many of our competitors and many of our adversaries are adopting modern, powerful digital technologies faster than the United States is. They are not hesitating to use it.”

Experts explained that America’s adversaries have sought to use unconventional, irregular and hybrid tactics as a means of combating the conventional strength of U.S. forces. Much of this is taking place below the threshold of armed conflict.

“Our adversaries, particularly the Chinese but really all of them, are pursuing irregular strategies … It’s a combination of political warfare, economic warfare and irregular warfare. They are pursuing strategies to achieve objectives without having to go to conventional conflict,” said Ken Tovo, president and CEO of DOL Enterprises and a retired three-star general. “Our challenge is, are we ready to play on that field? While we have talked about irregular warfare, and especially in this community for many years, the reality is there’s a lot of things that have actually inhibited our execution of effective irregular warfare strategies around the world to achieve our objectives.”

Current officials explained that the modern triad provides an existing operational concept that is operating currently and can act as a deterrent capability.

“The irregular triad that we’re talking about here is an operational concept,” said Lt. Gen. Richard Angle, commander of Allied Special Operations Forces Command at NATO and Special Operations Command Europe. “It brings together multi-domain capabilities. This concept can, in fact, enable deterrence, because that’s what we’re talking about.”

Officials explained that the three disciplines aren’t as siloed as they may seem, noting inherent integration currently exists.

For example, the Marine Corps and Navy cyber service components to U.S. Cyber Command are also their service components to Space Command. Additionally, Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command serves as the coordinating authority for cyber for U.S. Special Operations Command under Cybercom’s Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber enterprise. Similarly, 16th Air Force/Air Forces Cyber, a service cyber component to Cybercom, is the coordinating authority for cyber for U.S. Space Command under its Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber.

“The area that I’ve been most proud of is the fact that we have aggressively taken this from a conceptual discussion to one where we’re doing operational activities together and doing it routinely and how we are able to come together to bring our respective strengths,” Gen. Timothy Haugh, commander of Cybercom, said. “Overall, where we’ve come together has been driven by we can produce better outcomes together in those situations, particularly on really hard problems, and the fact that the initial investments we’ve made to do that have produced outcomes just reinforces the need for us to be able to collaborate in our planning and also in how we approach problems together. Because it gives different options to the secretary than we would have been able to do independently.”

Angle, who also has cyber experience having previously served as deputy commanding general for operations at Army Cyber Command, explained that through deterrence by denial, the triad can make it difficult for adversaries to achieve objectives below the threshold of war.

But, he said, it has to be employed more often if it is to be successful in the future for deterrence, or if deterrence should fail, for managing escalation and crises.

“You need to employ this capability now if you want options later. You can employ it now at low cost, at fairly low risk with potentially high payoffs. By doing so, you can actually lower the risk later because you’re now holding critical adversary capabilities at risk,” Angle said. “The conversation we have to have is here’s also the risk of not taking action. Because if you don’t employ these capabilities, you won’t hold that critical adversary capability at risk when the time comes. We are doing a lot of things inside of this triad, but we have to find a way to do more. We have to find a way to get to the point where we’re doing things and the adversary is reacting to what we’re doing and we’re not reacting to what they’re doing.”

For Haugh, while there have been positive discussions among the relevant stakeholders and good operational applications, he’d like to improve upon what opportunities exist for tighter linkage.

“Today, we have started to put the right pieces in place. Much of what we could also talk about is, when we miss opportunities, why do we miss them? In many of those cases, it’s about the kit that’s available to us at that moment and are we fully using the opportunity for us to be innovative from a technical solution standpoint that fits the timeline of the opportunity of placement and access and the ability to come together around a specific problem,” he said. “I think there’s some things we could talk about what we’re each doing in that area where we could be also more purposeful to be able to fully leverage our respective authorities and how we innovate and how we acquire.”

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His nomination was submitted to the Senate and referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Monday, according to a notice posted on Congress.gov.

If confirmed, he would be responsible for providing civilian oversight of the U.S. military’s SOF enterprise and exercising “authority, direction, and control of all special operations peculiar issues relating to the organization, training, and equipping of special operations forces,” according to a Defense Department description of the job.

Jensen, an Air Force Academy graduate, served in the military for more than 20 years before becoming a business executive in 2021, according to his LinkedIn bio.

Some of his most notable duty assignments included 26th Special Tactics Squadron commander and deputy commander of the 724th Special Tactics Group, which are part of Air Force Special Operations Command. He also served as a strategy lead in the Air Force’s Checkmate office at the Pentagon.

If confirmed, Jensen would assume a top leadership role as the SOF community adapts for great power competition with advanced adversaries such as China and Russia, and pursues new digital applications, AI and autonomy, drones and other cutting-edge tech.

The DOD is also promoting a concept known as the “SOF-Space-Cyber triad.”

“This integration enables on-the-ground intelligence, access, global communication, surveillance, information warfare and network disruption. Together, these elements create a force multiplier factor that enable the Joint Force to conduct operations with reduced risk of escalation,” U.S. Special Operations Command officials wrote in a new strategy document that was released in December, called “SOF Renaissance,” which noted the need to be prepared for “hyper-transparent battlefields.”

The duties of ASD for SO/LIC are currently being performed by Colby Jenkins, according to the Pentagon. Christopher Maier held that role during the Biden administration.  

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