US DoD: Joint Special Operations Publication

SO (special operations) can be conducted directly against an adversary in a single engagement, such as direct action (DA) against critical communication nodes, or indirectly, by organizing, training, and supporting insurgent forces through unconventional warfare (UW) against a hostile government or occupying force, or supporting an HN force in support of a friendly government through foreign internal defense (FID) and/or security force assistance (SFA). Other indirect methods include military information support operations (MISO) to influence the adversary military or local civilian populace and civil affairs operations (CAO) to provide essential support to a JFC responsible for civil-military operations (CMO).