This book recounts the history of the US Special Operations Forces (SOF) after the failure of Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, examining the events that led to and followed a series of organizational and operational reforms in the American military system. Operation Eagle Claw’s damage to America’s image was a critical moment in American miliary history that extended beyond the exclusive purview of the military.

The establishment of the Special Operations Command in 1987 would mark the only time to date that Congress has ever directed the executive branch to establish a military command. This book surveys the decades leading up to and proceeding Operation Eagle Claw, beginning with the SOF in the years after Vietnam and ending with the SOF’s performance in Operations Just Cause and Desert Storm.

With thoughtful analysis and supplementary primary source documents, From Desert One to Desert Storm: Operation Eagle Claw as a Critical Movement is a useful resource for courses on American military history, the Cold War, and the United States and the Middle East. .