The majority of elected officials have never served. When decisions are being made about special operators’ care, their families, their equipment or ability to accomplish the mission, we step in. We bring the voice of the special operations community to Congress, the Pentagon, and the White House. Since inception that’s been more than 10,000 legislative engagements: meetings, briefings, testimony, and letters. Members of Congress from both parties are on the record with us and have committed to working directly with SOAA. Check out what they have to say.
National Security & Defense
What operators see firsthand should shape strategy before the next crisis, not after.
We bring experience to Congress, the Pentagon, and the White House, and we publish research on the threats operators see first: irregular warfare, open-source intelligence, and the places the headlines miss.
Special operators work where policy meets the ground, giving them a view that few in Washington have. We brief Members of Congress and staff, testify, and meet with the Pentagon and the White House on and off the record. We publish white papers on national security priorities, ranging from China’s reach in Africa to protecting operators’ digital identities. We host panels at the Library of Congress on open-source intelligence with speakers from across the intelligence community. We don’t work for the government. We tell both parties what operators know. Fewer surprises, better decisions.
Health & Benefits
Years of deployments leave marks that standard checkups miss: brain injury, hormone loss, broken sleep, stress damage. We’re pushing the Pentagon and the VA to adopt screening standards that catch it early in veterans, and in operators still serving. We push for access to new treatments for post-traumatic stress including psychedelic-assisted therapies. When SOF veterans face difficulties accessing their earned benefits, we fight on their behalf. We support the women who served as SOF operators who deserve combat recognition and the VA benefits they’ve earned–most notably, The Jax Act, which was introduced in 2023.
Personnel & Readiness
We work on what keeps operators and their families strong: recruiting and retention, standards that don’t bend, real support for families, and a transition out of uniform that ends in purpose. The special operations force is small and has been used hard for more than twenty years. Keeping it ready means keeping its people whole. That starts with families, Special Operations Command’s own program is called Preservation of the Force and Family, and includes the standards the missions demand, honest answers on recruiting and retention, and a transition from service to civilian life that doesn’t waste twenty years of experience. We bring what operators and their families see to the people who set policy. Both parties want a ready force. We bring them the people who know what that takes.
Acquisition & Innovation
Operators know what works on the battlefield and what fails. The people who use the equipment are rarely the people who choose it. We work to close that gap. We connect firsthand experience to the people who set requirements, build the gear, and fund it: the Pentagon, industry, and Congress. We do this so the force gets the equipment, training, and technology it needs, not just weapons and vehicles. Our irregular warfare conferences, and events, have drawn more than 3,500 people from the force, industry, and government.
Crisis Response & Allies
We remain committed to honoring the promise of those who served shoulder to shoulder with us overseas. Whether that means securing visas for the Afghan allies who served alongside us, ensuring evacuation plans never leave our people behind, or building coalitions with like-minded partners, the goal is the same: America keeps its promise to its partners abroad because those partnerships keep Americans safe.
Transparency
Legislative advocacy is performed by SOAA, a 501(c)(19) veterans nonprofit.
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