Osea's emphasis on asymmetric capabilities primarily began in response to the threat of Varyag subterfuge to deployed expeditionary units and domestic military installations. Their forces were expanded following the end of the Cold War as military analysts expected future operations to be predominately counterinsurgency actions requiring delicate application of force.
501st Combat Applications Group
The 501st CAG, colloquially called "Echelon," was formed in 1969 directly in response to a CIA operation revealing that sleeper cells of Varyag commandos were stationed throughout Osea, Usea, and Anea to engage in subterfuge against military and civilian targets. Echelon was intended to negate the foreign and domestic terrorist threats posed by the Yuktobanian special forces group should a conflict ever break out between the two superpowers.
Technically under the jurisdiction of the Osean Army, the CAG is considered Osea's most elite military unit and draws operators from ARSOC, NAVSOC, MARSOC, and AFSOC. As their operations overseas and in Osea require blending in with the indigenous population, regulations pertaining to appearance and hardware. Echelon's actions and personnel are highly classified, but they are known to have taken part in the prevention of President Murphy's assassination by Eine Welt ohne Grenzen members in 1997. They are supported by the 502nd Special Operations Airborne Regiment, flying specially modified MH-9 Pave Gull variants for infil/exfil of Echelon operators.
Development Group
Special Activities Division
The SAD is the Central Intelligence Agency's direct action wing, responsible for HUMINT, PSYOPS, sabotage, and other covert tasks in support of Osean national security that do not fall under military jurisdiction, with explicitly militaristic operations carried out by its subordinate Special Operations Group (SOG). Their history dates back to early, rudimentary Osean special operations in the Eastern War that culminated in the creation of the CIA following the war's conclusion.
The SAD's activities most often involve the installation of friendly regimes in second and third world hotspots, and they are known to have supported the Osean-friendly regimes in Kaluga and Romny in the Tyumen Dispute and General Navarro's 2010 coup in Leasath.