SAD provides the President of the United States with an option when overt military operations and/or diplomatic actions are not viable or politically feasible. SAD can be directly tasked by the president or the National Security Council at the president's direction, unlike other US special mission forces. SAD/SOG has far fewer members than most of the other special missions units, such as the U.S. Army's 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Delta Force) or Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU).[8][9][10]
As the action arm of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, SAD/SOG conducts direct action missions such as raids, ambushes, sabotage, targeted killings[11][12][13] and unconventional warfare (e.g., training and leading guerrilla and military units of other countries in combat). SAD/SOG also conducts special reconnaissance that can be either military or intelligence driven and is carried out by Paramilitary Officers (also called Paramilitary Operatives or Paramilitary Operations Officers) when in "non-permissive environments". Paramilitary Operations Officers are also fully trained case officers (i.e., "spy handlers") and as such conduct clandestine human intelligence (HUMINT) operations throughout the world.[14]
The political action group within SAD conducts the deniable psychological operations, also known as black propaganda, as well as "covert influence" to effect political change in other countries as part of United States foreign policy.[1] Covert intervention in foreign elections is the most significant form of SAD's political action. This involves financial support for favored candidates, media guidance, technical support for public relations, get-out-the-vote or political organizing efforts, legal expertise, advertising campaigns, assistance with poll-watching, and other means of direct action. Policy decisions are influenced by agents, such as subverted officials of the country, to make decisions in their official capacity that are in the furtherance of US policy aims. In addition, mechanisms for forming and developing opinions involve the covert use of propaganda.[15]
Propaganda includes leaflets, newspapers, magazines, books, radio, and television, all of which are geared to convey the US message appropriate to the region. These techniques have expanded to cover the internet as well. They may employ officers to work as journalists, recruit agents of influence, operate media platforms, plant certain stories or information in places it is hoped it will come to public attention, or seek to deny and/or discredit information that is public knowledge. In all such propaganda efforts, "black" operations denote those in which the audience is to be kept ignorant of the source; "white" efforts are those in which the originator openly acknowledges themselves; and "gray" operations are those in which the source is partly but not fully acknowledged.[15][16]