By Javier Chagoya

An NPS student brainstorms answers to varied questions about a nation's future military force structure during the Norwegian Special Operations Force (NORSOF) 2025 Seminar, May 12. The three-day seminar utilized a design thinking approach to detail what an optimal special operations force for a small nation would look like in 2025.

NPS Defense Analysis Professor Dr. Nancy Roberts is a leading advocate for design thinking, and since the summer of 2013 has delivered courses on how to use this innovative process of creative problem-solving where the focus is on the 'human in the loop.'

Under the direction of Roberts and the Norwegian Special Operations Research Office at NPS, led by Espen Berg-Knutsen, NORSOF 2025 set out to answer the complex question, "How might we design a Special Operations Force (SOF) to best serve a small country's security interests in 2025?" Initial work on the problem began last fall.

"Environmental analysis and in-depth discussions with more than 25 international subject-matter experts were the starting points for a creative process that led to an innovative prototype for a future NORSOF. The prototype was presented at the seminar, May 12-14, to the [Norway Special Operations Command] as an input to the new, long-term development plan for the Norwegian Armed Forces," said Roberts.

An international team of 10 NPS students participated in the effort, with the Commander of Norwegian Special Operations Command (NORSOCOM) sponsoring the program.