Published on 1/1/2020
Digital Only

The Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) Quick Look series is a research initiative intended to provide an overview of key topics and issues of interest to members of the USSOCOM enterprise. In this Quick Look on ethics by JSOU faculty members Dr. Kari Thyne and Dr. Joseph Long, the authors explore the non-binary aspect of ethical decision-making in Special Operations Forces (SOF) environments. They establish a common vocabulary for discussing ethics in SOF operations and propose a way to develop necessary and useful tools that close the gap between the expectation and reality of what SOF operators must do. The authors conclude by proposing six SOF ethical decision-making truths to provide an anchor for ethical decision-making within SOF units.