SOF in Congress

The raid that removed Nicolás Maduro and the sudden designation of Marco Rubio as the de facto steward of Venezuela did more than end a regime. It exposed a truth Washington prefers to avoid. Modern statecraft now lives in the gray space between war and peace, where legitimacy, narrative, and perception decide outcomes faster than divisions or carrier strike groups. When the Secretary of State is asked to stabilize a nation, divide oil assets, manage sanctions, and shape elections at once, the problem is not bandwidth alone. It is architecture.

The 2025 Defending International Security by Restricting Unlawful Partnerships and Tactics (DISRUPT) Act represents Congress’s most ambitious bipartisan initiative to counter the coordinated challenges posed by China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. By mandating an interagency plan to “disrupt, frustrate, and constrain” adversary cooperation, the Act implicitly acknowledges that the United States is engaged in a global contest of systems, one that cannot be won through traditional deterrence alone.