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60 Minutes - Newsmakers
Father's hunt for answers after son's suicide leads military to modify training and weapons
60-minutes
By Scott Pelley
March 23, 2025 / 7:51 PM EDT / CBS News
Frank Larkin's service to America is extraordinary—a former Navy SEAL whose government career included the Secret Service, the Pentagon and the U.S. Senate. But Larkin's greatest contribution is happening now, in retirement, after his son, Ryan, a decorated Navy SEAL himself, took his own life. Ryan's death was put down to mental illness—case closed.
A military lab found distinctive damage from repeated blast exposure in every brain it tested, but Navy SEAL leaders were kept in the dark about the pattern.
The 2018 U.S. National Defense Strategy made headlines by officially downgrading terrorism as a national security priority in favor of “inter-state strategic competition.” Many interpreted the statement as signifying a return to “conventional combat,” yet a closer reading suggests that even state-based competition is likely to be “irregular.”
In the 1960s, some analysts and scholars were convinced that the Soviet Union was on a trajectory to overtake the U.S. in industrial production and material satisfaction. In the 1980s, Japan’s efficient manufacturing prowess and high-profile purchases of U.S. real estate and entertainment companies caused concern about the end of American hegemony.4 In the 2020s, the fear is that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will chart a course to global dominance that displaces the U.S.-backed Western Liberal International Order (WLIO) by 2049 or earlier.
Chinese military theory has long valued stratagems focused on undermining the morale of an opposing force. In his penultimate work, The Art of War, famed Zhou dynasty strategist Sun Tzu wrote, “Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”
The world is at a strategic inflection point, and the challenges we face are more complex than ever. From technological advancements to global instability, Army Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) are stepping up to reshape how we compete, deter, and prevail in an era of uncertainty.
ARSOF Strategy 2030 lays out our vision for the future, one rooted in innovation, partnership, and adaptability.
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