Defense Department officials are considering assigning the 4th
Marine Expeditionary Brigade to the U. S. Special Operations Command.
The Marine Corps stood up the brigade—which specializes in
anti-terrorism—in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
A Marine Corps officer said that if the 4th MEB, based at Camp
Lejeune, N.C., is transferred to SOCOM, it would play a larger role
in training foreign military units.
The Marine Corps for years has resisted giving up forces to special
operations, claiming the service already is overstretched. Since
9/11, however, the Corps and SOCOM have engaged in more than 30
cooperative efforts. In 2003, the Corps assigned an experimental,
86-man detachment—the first of its kind—to deploy with
Navy SEAL commandos.