Progressive Management - Navy Seals Gone Wild: Publicity, Fame, and the Loss of the Quiet Professional--Osama bin Laden Killing, Politics, Commodification Cycle, Consequences of Promoting Seals for Entertainment, Profit

Navy Seals Gone Wild: Publicity, Fame, andthe Loss of the Quiet Professional - Osama bin Laden Killing,Politics, Commodification Cycle, Consequences of Promoting Sealsfor Entertainment, Profit

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Progressive Management

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CONTENTS

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Forrest S. Crowell

Lieutenant, United States Navy

B.A., Old Dominion University, 2009

Naval Postgraduate School

December 2015

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SUBJECT TERMS

Navy SEALs, Naval Special Warfare, specialoperations, civil-military relations, organizational culture,commodification, social capital, military ethics,professionalism

ABSTRACT

Over the past decade, Naval Special Warfare(NSW) has built up significant symbolic capital due to a string ofhighly politicized and romanticized military operations. Thepublicity, and the ensuing fame, helped set the conditions for theemergence of a SEAL counterculture characterized by an increasinglycommodified and public persona. There has been a shift away fromthe traditional SEAL Ethos of quiet professionalism to a MarketEthos of commercialization and self-promotion, especially amongformer SEALs. At the same time, government officials, specialinterest groups, Hollywood, the publishing industry, and the mediawrit large have seen the profitability of associating their agendaswith the SEAL identity. They are likewise tapping into SEAL fameand offering SEALs an outlet for the commodification of their SEALaffiliation. Such a promotional construct contravenes the dualrequirements of security and surprise necessary for the success ofSEAL missions. This paper analyzes these trends, and argues thatthe cultivation of celebrity status has incentivized narcissisticand profit-focused behavior within the SEAL community, which inturn has eroded organizational effectiveness, damaged nationalsecurity, and undermined healthy civil-military relations. Toredress this, all parties must work to reestablish an environmentthat refrains from promoting special operations for entertainmentvalue, for profit, or for political gain.

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CHAPTER I - NAVY SEALS GONE WILD

CHAPTER II - HISTORY AND UTILITY OF THE SEALETHOS

A. GENESIS AND MEANING OF AN ETHOS

B. WARNING SIGNS

CHAPTER III - CULTURAL CHANGE OR CULTURALCORRUPTION?

A. CHANGING CLIMATE

B. BOOKS

C. POLITICS AND THE MEDIA

CHAPTER IV - POLITICS, PUBLICITY STUNTS,AND MIXED MESSAGES - SETTING THE CONDITIONS FOR FAME

A. POLITICS

B. PUBLICITY STUNTS

C. MIXED MESSAGES

CHAPTER V - THE COMMODIFICATION CYCLE ANDSOCIAL CAPITAL

A. THE COMMODIFICATION CYCLE

B. SOCIAL CAPITAL

CHAPTER VI - CONSEQUENCES OF PROMOTING SEALSFOR ENTERTAINMENT, PROFITS, AND POLITICS - WHY WORRY?

A. UNDUE PROMINENCE AND CIVIL-MILITARYRELATIONS

B. NATIONAL SECURITY

C. ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

CHAPTER VII - COUNTERARGUMENTS

A. DETERRENCE

B. OVERSIGHT AND THE RIGHT TO KNOW

C. THIS IS ONLY A PASSING PHASE

CHAPTER VIII - WHAT TO DO?

A. INTERNAL APPROACH

B. EXTERNAL APPROACH

C. GRASSROOTS APPROACH

CHAPTER IX - CONCLUSION

APPENDIX

NAVY SEAL ETHOS

LIST OF REFERENCES

FOOTNOTES

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LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

BUD/S Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL

CIA Central Intelligence Agency

CLD Continuum of Leadership Development

DOD Department of Defense

DODEA Department of Defense EducationActivity

DOJ Department of Justice

DOPSR Defense Office of PrepublicationSecurity Review

GAO Government Accounting Office

GTD Global Terrorism Database

JSOC Joint Special Operations Command

OPSEC operational security

NCIS Naval Criminal InvestigativeService

NSW Naval Special Warfare

NSWC Naval Special Warfare Command

NSWDG Naval Special Warfare DevelopmentGroup

PAC political action committee

PAO public affairs officer

POTUS President of the United States

SEALPAC Supporting, Electing AmericanLeaders political action committee

SOF special operations forces

SOFREP special operations forces situationreport

SWCC Special Warfare Combatant-CraftCrewman

TTP tactic, technique, procedure

UDG Unauthorized Disclosure Group

U.S. United States

USSOCOM United States Special OperationsCommand

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the staff of theDefense Analysis Department of the Naval Postgraduate School forsupporting my project and providing me with critical feedback atevery stage of the process.

Specifically, I would like to thankProfessor Anna Simons. Your assistance has been tremendous. Thankyou for the opportunities you provided me and for the great supportthat you continue to give to the special operations community. Weare lucky to have you on our side! Professor Bradley "BJ" Strawser,your support has been equally outstanding. Your unconventionalthinking and expert guidance were essential in helping guide mywork. Thank you for believing in my project. Also, I would like tothank Colonel Ian Rice and Professor Siamak Naficy for theirinitial and enthusiastic support.

Additionally, I would like to thank RearAdmiral Brian Losey and the staff of Naval Special Warfare Commandfor their eager assistance over the last eighteen months. Last, andmost important, I must thank the quiet professionals of NavalSpecial Warfare and the broader special operations community whoprovided me with critical perspective along the way. You know whoyou are.

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NAVY SEALS GONE WILD

What would have happened if U.S. Navy SEALshad not killed Osama bin Laden, but rather he had been killed by adrone strike? Would President Obama's administration have handledthe publicity differently? Would the name and location of the droneoperator's unit have been released? Would the man or woman whopulled the trigger to release the missile have been lionized inmainstream American culture? Would Fox News have hired this droneoperator to be a Fox News contributor, paid to comment on domesticand foreign policy? Would drone operators have materialized fromthe shadows to write tell-all books, star in movies, blog aboutsensitive drone operations, criticize the president, and run forpolitical office on the platform that they were drone operators?(Hint: this is what many former SEALs are doing.)