Navy SEAL Team 6 is best known for killing Osama bin Laden in 2011. In the past 14 years, special forces have been involved in tens of thousands of operations in the Middle East, but a New York Times investigation raises questions about oversight of these missions. Here, U.S. Navy SEALs exit a C-130 Hercules aircraft during a training exercise in Fort Pickett, Virginia. U.S. Navy
New York Times: SEAL Team 6: A Secret History of Quiet Killings and Blurred Lines
The unit best known for killing Osama bin Laden has been converted into a global manhunting machine with limited outside oversight.
They have plotted deadly missions from secret bases in the badlands of Somalia. In Afghanistan, they have engaged in combat so intimate that they have emerged soaked in blood that was not their own. On clandestine raids in the dead of the night, their weapons of choice have ranged from customized carbines to primeval tomahawks.
Around the world, they have run spying stations disguised as commercial boats, posed as civilian employees of front companies and operated undercover at embassies as male-female pairs, tracking those the United States wants to kill or capture.
Those operations are part of the hidden history of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, one of the nation’s most mythologized, most secretive and least scrutinized military organizations. Once a small group reserved for specialized but rare missions, the unit best known for killing Osama bin Laden has been transformed by more than a decade of combat into a global manhunting machine.
WNU Editor: On the one hand .... I enjoyed reading this post. On the other hand .... I feel very uncomfortable that a news agency like the New York Times would publish in-depth information on any US Special Forces branch. Secrecy is vital for any dangerous mission .... having your organization profiled by the New York Times does not fit that requirement for being "secret".
More News On SEAL Team 6
Navy SEAL Team Six: Unit that killed Osama bin Laden has become 'global manhunting machine with limited oversight', says report -- The Independent
Navy SEALs Have Become A 'Global Manhunting Machine' With Lax Oversight -- IBTimes
Navy SEAL Team 6 has transformed into an elite force with a wide range of deadly capabilities: report -- New York Daily News
Inside SEAL Team 6: Secrets, Rogue Ops, High-Tech Weapons, Bigger Missions -- Sputnik
SEAL Team 6, the CIA and the secret history of U.S. kill missions in Afghanistan -- Washington Post
1 comment:
I sometimes think that perhaps limited oversight may turn out to be beneficial for the mission.
Oversight introduces bureaucracy; more often than not, bureaucracy introduces inaction and slowness. And for the Special forces unit and their mission, who thrive on quick response and immediate action, this is incredibly detrimental.
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