WASHINGTON — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has ordered the Pentagon’s top civilian special operations official raised to the same footing as the secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and has given the office a new name drawn from World War II: the Office of Strategic Services. The department announced the change Thursday and released the memorandum, which is dated Nov. 2.
“Despite [its] contribution to the Joint Force and our Nation, resourcing for SOF remains behind current operational and force posture,” Hegseth wrote, according to Breaking Defense, which reviewed the memo. “It is time for a bold, foundational change.”
The department described the move as “a historic shift in the civilian oversight of our nation’s elite forces.” Its release said the renamed office would immediately receive at least $45 million a year reallocated from existing funds, 100 dedicated military and civilian billets, and “direct budgetary and acquisition authority over special operations-peculiar matters,” so that special operators have “the decisive leadership, resources, and agile support required to dominate on the modern battlefield.”
The post is now held by Derrick Anderson, the assistant secretary for special operations and low-intensity conflict, Breaking Defense reported. Under the memo, he will be known as the Assistant Secretary of War for the Office of Strategic Services in public releases, correspondence and ceremonies until Congress changes the law, according to a summary of the document by Armed Forces Press.
What changes now
Several steps take effect inside the department without new legislation. The memo makes the assistant secretary a “Code 2” official in the Pentagon’s order of precedence, ranking with the under secretaries, and seats the office on the department’s senior decision bodies, including the Senior Leaders Council, the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, the Program Budget Review, the Deputy’s Management Action Group and the governance boards for special access programs, Breaking Defense reported.
Within 60 days, 75 civilian billets, including at least five Senior Executive Service positions, move to the office, and the Joint Staff is to identify 25 joint-qualified military billets, according to the Armed Forces Press summary. The comptroller must find at least $45 million a year in operations and maintenance money for a dedicated program element to run the office. The summary says that money is not to be used to support the forces themselves.
The memo also names the assistant secretary as Hegseth’s principal civilian adviser and delegated official for special operations-peculiar acquisition, resources and equipment. InsideDefense reported that the military services and other Pentagon components will have to seek the office’s “concurrence” on funding matters that affect special operations forces. The Armed Forces Press summary says the office’s policies may not limit the authority of the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.
Hegseth also directed budget planners to treat Special Operations Command’s resourcing and manpower requests as “top tier priorities” in carrying out the fiscal 2027 budget and in building the fiscal 2028-2032 plan, and told the military departments to “prioritize service support to SOF requirements wherever feasible,” Breaking Defense reported.
What needs Congress
The largest piece needs lawmakers. The memo directs the department’s legislative affairs office to draft proposals that would create a permanent Under Secretary of Strategic Services to succeed the current assistant secretary and would formally rename the secretariat. The department said those “active legislative proposals” are underway. Breaking Defense compared the renaming to the “Department of War” title the president authorized as a secondary name, which the department hopes Congress will make permanent in a future defense authorization bill.
Kori Schake, who leads foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, told Breaking Defense she was skeptical. “Secretary Hegseth does not have the authority to make that change or allocate that money, Congress would have to authorize the change and appropriate the money,” she said. “We’re over-investing in SOF.”
Others have pushed for more. Chris Miller, who held the special operations post and later served as acting defense secretary at the end of President Trump’s first term, wrote in May that special operations forces should receive $24 billion a year, according to Breaking Defense.
The original Office of Strategic Services, led by William J. Donovan, ran intelligence and special operations during World War II and is regarded by today’s special operations community as part of its heritage, a lineage the department cited in naming the new office.
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