Curated news, analysis, and commentary on special operations, intelligence, irregular warfare, national defense, and global conflicts.

Photo / Image: A Polish special operations forces soldier participates in Trojan Footprint 26 near Warsaw, Poland, May 16, 2026. Exercise Trojan Footprint is a multinational, joint-combined exercise that provides an opportunity to test the capabilities and interoperability of the special operations forces elements of NATO Allies and partners. The Polish special operations unit was training with an element of the 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Glenn Brennan)

Editorial Note: Publishing of articles by SOF News the next several days will be minimal as the Editor is attending the “CIWAG Maritime Symposium” held in Newport, Rhode Island this week presented by the Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups at the U.S. Naval War College.

Executive Summary

This weekly briefing summarizes developments in special operations forces (SOF), global conflicts, intelligence, and national security from the past week. Three members of the SOF community received the Medal of Honor. The anticipated signing of the MoU between the U.S. and Iran did not happen in Switzerland as scheduled. As of Sunday, the Strait of Hormuz remains shut. USSOCOM released a video about a recently published SOF Cancer Study. Pete Hegseth has some harsh words for our NATO allies at the Brussels conference.

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Key Outlooks

• One Special Forces Soldier and two Force Recon Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor
• Meeting with Iran DID NOT happen on Friday in Switzerland
• Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz once again
• Congress seeks funding to replace SOF A/C lost in Operation Epic Fury
• Summertime is the period for lots of change of command ceremonies
• Eight die in B-52 crash
• Commentary – arming indigenous groups
• Several videos worth watching