Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) Resistance Operating Concept
“Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) Resistance Operating Concept”
Speakers: DeRosa, J. (Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR)); Fiala, O. (SOCEUR); Worall, G. (SOCEUR)
Date: 13 May 2019
Speaker Session Preview
SMA hosted a speaker session presented by Dr. John DeRosa (Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR)), Dr. Otto Fiala (SOCEUR), and LTC (R) Gordon James (Jim) Worrall (SOCEUR) as a part of its SMA NDU Speaker Series. Dr. DeRosa began by discussing the origin of SOCEUR’s Unconventional Warfare (UW)/Resistance Seminar Series in 2014, highlighting that it was designed to create “an academic and practitioner network/forum to allow Baltic, Nordic, and other relevant partner nations to discuss, exchange, and conduct applied research and analysis on UW, resistance movements, and partisan warfare in partnership with SOCEUR in a non-classified environment.” The aim of this seminar series is to create common terminology and understanding, coordinate with other UW and resistance activities, and promote whole of government solutions. Dr. DeRosa outlined the effects of the seminar series, focusing on the written Resistance Operating Concept (ROC). The ROC is designed to inform US planning and doctrine, and it argues that a legal framework is required in order to exercise legitimate and sovereign planning within a state. Dr. DeRosa also discussed the lessons learned from the seminar series. He then defined resistance, identified its key features, and distinguished it from insurgency. He also defined UW and discussed its relationship with resistance. Dr. DeRosa also explained how resilience is part of the foundation of resistance and discussed SOCEUR’s way ahead—in the near term (~6 months), in the mid-term (6-12 months), and in the long term (12+ months). To conclude the presentation, Dr. Fiala re-emphasized the need for the establishment of a national legal framework and stated that resistance is a form of warfare—it is something that one should plan for now.
Dr. John DeRosa
Dr. John DeRosa is a Strategist at Special Operations Command – Europe (SOCEUR). Prior to joining SOCEUR, he served on the Joint Staff (J-8) and the Army Staff (HQDA, G-35). A graduate of the National War College as the U.S. European Command Scholar, Dr. DeRosa holds a PhD and MS from George Mason University, as well as an MA and BA from California State University – San Bernardino. He is an Army veteran of the Iraq and Kosovo campaigns.
Dr. Otto Fiala
Dr. Otto Fiala is the author of the Resistance Operating Concept at SOCEUR. He previously served as USAFRICOM’s Joint Doctrine Coordinator and as a Senior Counterintelligence Analyst at USEUCOM. Dr. Fiala commanded at ranks from Captain through Colonel, retiring as an Army Reserve Civil Affairs Officer with operational deployments to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Iraq, and Georgia.
He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Reading, UK; a JD from Brooklyn Law School, NY; and a BA in Political Science and Economics from St. John’s University. He remains admitted to the bar in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of New York. He is married to Christine Anne N. Fiala, also a retired USAR Colonel, and they have two adult sons.
LTC (R) Gordon James (Jim) Worrall
Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Gordon James “Jim” Worrall is a Resistance Planner at SOCEUR. A former U.S. Army Special Forces Officer, he is a graduate of the Chilean Army War College. He holds an MS in International Relations from the University of Miami and a BA in Political Science from the University of Central Florida.
His operational assignments include service in Iraq, Djibouti, Chile, and Honduras, with multiple deployments in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.
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