WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Both Russia and China have developed sophisticated intelligence gathering and operational capabilities that the US Defense officials have said could counter the US ability to project military power.
“If we think the challenges in the CT [counterterrorism] realm have been daunting, we should buckle up for the rise of the near-peer competitors and the highly complex security environment that comes with great power competition,” Whelan said at the 2015 Geospatial Intelligence Symposium in Washington, DC.
The United States is facing “emerging state-based challenges” among competitors in Europe, like Russia, as well as in East Asia, Whelan explained.
"We are in a back to the future mode… confronting variations on Cold War challenges, but with a more sophisticated set of adversaries,” Whelan explained.
SOLIC has worked closely with geospatial intelligence units to gather intelligence, imaging and other data to provide better situational awareness for US military leaders and policymakers.
The Special Operations forces in SOLIC operate within low-intensity conflict zones, to counter terrorism, hybrid warfare, information warfare and other threats below the threshold of open conflict.