No more gold nuggets as SSE delivers decreasing returns

18th May 2020 - 12:30 GMT | by Scott Gourley in California

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After nearly two decades of continuous combat operations in counter-terror and counter-violent extremist organisation environments, US special operations planners are seeing a decreasing return on so-called sensitive site exploitation (SSE) opportunities.

Speaking last week at the virtual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (vSOFIC), Col Michael McGuire, director of R&D in US Army Special Operations Command, described a ‘decreasing return on what we used to call exploitation or sensitive site exploitation’ in an evolving targeting environment.

McGuire defined SSE as the ability to derive useful information from objects taken from a target area or captured enemy: ‘We have to turn

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Author

Scott Gourley

Scott Gourley is a US-based writer on defence and security issues. A former US Army …

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