“Special operators may be professionals of a sort. However, until special operations designate a jurisdiction over which it has the autonomy to exercise judgment, the organization is better characterized as a bureaucracy that manages a highly skilled force.” 



Host Benjamin Ordiway in conversation with professor C. Anthony Pfaff, Ph.D. of the Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute, to discuss his recent article in Parameters, “Professionalizing Special Operations Forces.”



We also talk a little about my ongoing work on coaching moral reasoning & ethical decision-making in field-training environments. This work is sponsored by the 1st Special Forces Command.

Benjamin Ordiway, former 92 CA and now a philosophy instructor at US military academy, interviews Dr. C. Anthony Pfaff (Colonel, U.S. Army, Ret.), who is currently the research professor for Strategy, the Military Profession and Ethics at the Strategic Studies Institute and a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council. 

Dr. Pfaff has published "Proxy War Ethics" by the Journal of National Security Law and Policy, Military Ethics below the Threshold of War, in Parameters (Vol 50, No. 3), "The Ethics of Acquiring Disruptive Military Technologies," in the Texas National Security Review (Vol. 3, No. 1), "Western and Chinese Ways of War and their Ethics," in Parameters (Vol. 52, No. 1), "The Future of US-Iraq Relations," by the Atlantic Council.

Host: Benjamin Ordiway, https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminordiway 

Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/c-anthony-pfaff-phd-2b42349/ 

The One CA Podcast is a production of the Civil Affairs Association: https://www.civilaffairsassoc.org. 

Sponsorship links:

Tesla Government: https://teslagov.com 

LC38 Brand: https://lc38brand.com

Third Order Effects: https://www.thirdordereffects.com