Naval Special Warfare Development Group
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The Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), abbreviated as DEVGRU ("Development Group") and unofficially known as SEAL Team Six, is the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
component of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). The unit is often referred to within JSOC as Task Force Blue. DEVGRU is administratively supported by the Naval Special Warfare Command and operationally commanded by JSOC. Most information concerning DEVGRU is designated as classified, and details of its activities are not usually commented on by either the
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...
or the
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. Despite the official name changes and increase in size, "SEAL Team Six" remains the unit's widely recognized moniker. DEVGRU (along with its
Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...
and
Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...
counterparts, Delta Force, Intelligence Support Activity, the 75th Ranger Regiment's Regimental Reconnaissance Company and 24th Special Tactics Squadron), are the U.S. military's primary Tier 1 special mission units tasked with performing the most complex, classified, and dangerous missions directed by the
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
or the Secretary of Defense. DEVGRU conducts various specialized missions such as
counterterrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and Intelligence agency, intelligence ...
, hostage rescue, special reconnaissance, and direct action (short-duration strikes or small-scale offensive actions), often against high-value targets.


History

The origins of DEVGRU are in SEAL Team Six, a unit created in the aftermath of Operation Eagle Claw. During the
Iran hostage crisis The Iran hostage crisis () began on November 4, 1979, when 66 Americans, including diplomats and other civilian personnel, were taken hostage at the Embassy of the United States in Tehran, with 52 of them being held until January 20, 1981. Th ...
in 1979, Richard Marcinko was one of two U.S. Navy representatives for a
Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and ...
task force known as the TAT (Terrorist Action Team). The purpose of the TAT was to develop a plan to free the American hostages held in Iran. In the wake of the disaster at the Desert One base in Iran, the Navy saw the need for a full-time counter-terrorist unit and tasked Marcinko with its design and development. Marcinko was the first commanding officer of this new unit. At the time, there were two SEAL Teams, SEAL Team ONE and SEAL Team TWO. Marcinko named the unit SEAL Team Six in order to confuse Soviet intelligence as to the number of actual SEAL teams in existence. The unit's plankowners (founding members) were interviewed and hand-picked by Marcinko from throughout the UDT/SEAL community. SEAL Team Six was formally commissioned in November 1980, and an intense, progressive work-up training program made the unit mission-ready six months later. SEAL Team Six became the U.S. Navy's premier hostage rescue and counter-terrorism unit. It has been compared to the U.S. Army's elite Delta Force. Marcinko held the command of SEAL Team Six for three years, from 1980 to July 1983, instead of the typical two-year command in the Navy at the time. SEAL Team Six started with 75 shooters. The unit has virtually unlimited resources at its disposal. In 1984, Marcinko and a dozen members of SEAL Team Six would go on to form " Red Cell" (also known as OP-06D), a special unit designed to test the security of American military installations. In 1987, SEAL Team Six was dissolved. A new unit named the "Naval Special Warfare Development Group" was formed, essentially as SEAL Team Six's successor. Reasons for the disbanding are varied, but the name ''SEAL Team Six'' is often used in reference to DEVGRU.


Controversies

On September 26, 2010, British aid worker Linda Norgrove was kidnapped by members of the
Taliban , leader1_title = Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, Supreme leaders , leader1_name = {{indented plainlist, * Mullah Omar{{Natural Causes{{nbsp(1994–2013) * Akhtar Mansour{{Assassinated (2015–2016) * Hibatullah Akhundzada (2016–present) ...
in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. After intelligence reports indicated that a group of local elders were calling for Norgrove to be executed "like the Russian" (a possible reference to the Russian war in Afghanistan), a rescue attempt spearheaded by DEVGRU operators was staged, only for Norgrove to be killed by a SEAL's errant hand
grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...
. It was initially reported that Norgrove had been killed by one of her captors setting off a suicide vest; however, a joint investigation between the United States and the United Kingdom later confirmed that she had been accidentally killed by her rescuers. Several Navy SEALs were disciplined for not immediately notifying officers about throwing the grenade, which was a breach of military law. In 2017, Army Special Forces Staff Sergeant Logan Melgar died from trauma received during an apparent on-base
hazing Hazing (American English), initiation, beasting (British English), bastardisation (Australian English), ragging (South Asian English) or deposition refers to any activity expected of someone in joining or participating in a group that humiliates, ...
incident in
Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...
that resulted in the criminal prosecutions of two DEVGRU members and two
Marine Raiders The Marine Raiders are special operations forces originally established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious warfare, amphibious light infantry warfare. Despite the original intent for Raiders to serve ...
. Following a two-year investigation by '' The Intercept'', a report was released in 2017, accusing SEAL Team Six and its commanding officers of abuses, crimes and coverups. The investigation included interviews with numerous members and officers of the unit, who recounted the group's involvement in abuses, including what some members described as war crimes. Former unit members and officers said that commanding officers tolerated and covered up abuses.


Recruitment, selection and training

In the early stages of creating SEAL Team Six, Marcinko was given a six-month window to produce the team. Had he failed to do so, the project would have been canceled. Consequentially, Marcinko had little time to create a proper selection course on par with Delta Force's process. To get around this, recruits were selected after assessing their Navy records, followed by individual interviews. According to Marcinko's book ''Rogue Warrior'', SEAL Team Six members were chosen if they had initial struggles qualifying in aspects of training, but subsequently qualified, as the determination of these candidates was seen as more valuable than a candidate that breezed through his training. Applicants came from the east coast and west coast SEAL teams and the Underwater Demolition Teams. Although much of the training and recruitment is classified, there are some requirements and training exercises that are now public knowledge. The requirements to apply for DEVGRU states that applicants must be male, be 21 years old or older, have served at least 2 deployments on their previous assignments, and be eligible for Secret clearance. Candidates come from the East/West Coast SEAL teams, SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) teams, the Special Boat teams (for Gray Squadron), the Navy
explosive ordnance disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are disabled or otherwise rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated fu ...
(EOD) teams, and Navy SARCs. Enlisted candidates must be in the pay grades of E-4 through E-8 and Officer candidates need to be O-3 through O-4 to apply. Candidates must undergo physical screening, psychological testing and are then interviewed to deem whether they are suitable for assignment to NSWDG. Those who pass the stringent recruitment process will attend an eight-month selection and training course with the unit's training department known as "Green Team". The training course attrition rate is high, usually around 50%; during one selection course, out of the original 20 candidates, 12 completed the course. All candidates are watched closely by DEVGRU instructors and evaluated on whether they are suitable to join the individual squadrons. Howard E. Wasdin, a former member of SEAL Team Six said in a 2011 interview that 16 applied for SEAL Team Six selection course and two were accepted. Those who do not pass the selection phase are returned to their previous assignments and are able to try again in the future. Like all special operations forces units that have an extremely intensive and high-risk training schedule, there can be serious injuries and deaths. SEAL Team Six/DEVGRU has lost several operators during training, including parachute accidents and close-quarters battle training accidents. It is presumed that the unit's assessment process for potential new recruits is different from what a SEAL operator experienced in his previous career, and much of the training tests the candidate's mental capacity rather than his physical condition. Every candidate chosen will have already completed their respective advanced training pipelines; Basic Underwater Demolitions/SEAL training, the Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman training, Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman training, the
Navy EOD United States Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians render safe all types of Unexploded ordnance, ordnance, including Improvised explosive device, improvised, chemical weapon, chemical, biological weapon, biological, and nuclear weapon, n ...
training or Navy Dive School. Candidates are put through a variety of advanced training courses led by civilian or military instructors. These can include free climbing, land warfare, advanced
unarmed combat Hand-to-hand combat is a physical confrontation between two or more persons at short range (grappling distance or within the physical reach of a handheld weapon) that does not involve the use of ranged weapons.Hunsicker, A., ''Advanced Skills in ...
techniques, defensive and offensive advanced driving, advanced diving, communications and Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training. Candidates are also taught how to pick locks on cars, doors, and safes. All candidates must perform at the top level during selection, and the unit instructors evaluate the candidate during the training process. Selected candidates are assigned to one of the Tactical Development and Evaluation Squadrons. Unlike regular SEAL Teams, SEAL Team Six operators can attend almost any other military course to receive further training depending on the unit's requirements. Like Delta Force, live-fire marksmanship drills in both long-range and close-quarter battle drills are done with hostage roles being played by other students to help build the candidates' trust between each other. DEVGRU regularly trains and operates with special forces units from other countries including the Australian 2nd Commando Regiment, the British Special Boat Service and Canada's Joint Task Force 2.


Structure

DEVGRU is divided into color-coded line squadrons: * Red Squadron (Assault) * Blue Squadron (Assault) * Gold Squadron (Assault) * Silver Squadron (Assault) * Black Squadron (Intelligence, Reconnaissance, & Surveillance) * Gray Squadron (Mobility Teams, Transportation/Divers, QRF) * Green Team (Selection/Training) Each assault squadron, usually led by a
commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...
(O-5), is divided into three troops. Each of these troops is commanded by a senior
commissioned officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent ...
, which is usually a lieutenant commander (O-4) or sometimes a
lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
(O-3). A troop chief also serves as an adviser to the troop commander and is the highest enlisted SEAL in the troop, usually a
master chief petty officer A master chief petty officer is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards, usually above some grade of petty officer. United States Master chief petty officer (MCPO) is the ninth (just below the rank of MCPON) enliste ...
(E-9). Each troop has around 16 members which are further divided into smaller teams of enlisted SEALs, called assaulters. These individual teams of assaulters are led by senior enlisted SEALs; usually a senior chief petty officer (E-8), sometimes a chief petty officer (E-7). The rest of these teams are filled out with more chief petty officers (E-7), petty officers first class (E-6), and petty officers second class (E-5); each member with a respective role. Each assault squadron also has a specific nickname. Examples include Gold Squadron's Crusaders, Red Squadron's Indians, Blue Squadron's Pirates, Silver Squadron's Headhunters, and Gray Squadron's Vikings. The assault squadrons are supported by a variety of support personnel, including cryptologists, communicators, EOD technicians, dog handlers, and sometimes airmen from the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
24th Special Tactics Squadron, the Air Force's JSOC element. According to the
Government Accountability Office The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan government agency within the legislative branch that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the s ...
report on special operations forces, in the
fiscal year A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. La ...
of 2014, DEVGRU had a total of 1,787 authorized positions, of which 1,342 are military and 445 are civilian.


Firearms

The following is a list of firearms known to be used by DEVGRU, but because of the unit's secretive nature, this list is not exhaustive. Carbines * Noveske 10.5" NSR 5.56×45mm * Heckler & Koch HK416 5.56×45mm * Heckler & Koch MP7 4.6×30mm * Colt Mk 18 CQBR 5.56×45mm *
M4A1 The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifle developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 rifle, M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively used by ...
(various manufacturers) 5.56×45mm Sniper and anti-materiel rifles * Colt Mk 12 SPR 5.56×45mm * Knight's Armament Company SR-25 7.62×51mm * Remington Model 700 "Mk 13 Mod. 5" .300 Winchester Magnum * McMillan Firearms TAC-338 .338 Lapua *
McMillan TAC-50 The McMillan TAC-50 is a long-range anti-materiel rifle. The TAC-50 is based on previous designs from McMillan, which first appeared during the late 1980s. From May 2017 until November 2023, it held the record for the longest confirmed sniper ki ...
"Mk 15 Mod. 0" .50 BMG * Barrett M107A1 .50 BMG Sidearms * Heckler & Koch HK45 "Mk 24 Mod. 0" .45 ACP * SIG Sauer P226 "P226R Mk 25" 9×19mm *
Glock 19 Glock (; stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer-Receiver (firearms), framed, Recoil operation#Short recoil operation, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer G ...
9×19mm * SIG Sauer P320 9×19mm


Commanding Officers

The unit's first commanding officer was a Commander (O-5). Following his departure, the billet was changed to that of a Captain (O-6), and remains so currently.


Roles and responsibilities

DEVGRU's full mission is classified but is thought to include pre-emptive, pro-active counter-terrorist operations, counter-proliferation (efforts to prevent the spread of both conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction), as well as the elimination or recovery of high-value targets from unfriendly nations. DEVGRU is one of a handful of U.S. Special Mission Units authorized in the use of pre-emptive actions against terrorists and their facilities. When SEAL Team Six was first created in 1980, it was devoted exclusively to counter-terrorism with a worldwide maritime responsibility; its objectives typically included targets such as ships, oil rigs, naval bases, coastal embassies, and other civilian or military bases that were accessible from the sea or inland waterways. On certain operations, small teams from SEAL Team Six were tasked with covertly infiltrating international high-risk areas to carry out reconnaissance or security assessments of U.S. military facilities and embassies to give advice on improvements in order to prevent casualties in an event of a terrorist attack. SEAL Team Six was disbanded in 1987, and its role, minus non-counter-terrorism ship-boarding, which was given to the newly formed SEAL Team 8, given to the newly formed DEVGRU. Since the start of war on terror, DEVGRU has evolved into a multi-functional special operations unit with a worldwide operational mandate. Such operations include the successful rescue of Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted, the attempted rescue of Linda Norgrove, the successful rescue of American doctor Dilip Joseph and in 1991, the successful recovery of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his family during a coup that deposed him. The official mission of the currently operating Naval Special Warfare Development Group mission is "to provide centralized management for the test, evaluation, and development of equipment technology and Techniques, Tactics and Procedures for Naval Special Warfare". DEVGRU and the Army's Delta Force train and deploy together on counter-terrorist missions usually as part of a joint special operations task force (JSOTF). The
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
's highly secretive Special Activities Center and more specifically its elite Special Operations Group often works with, and recruits from, DEVGRU. The combination of these units led ultimately to the killing of
Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...
leader
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...
in Operation Neptune Spear.


See also

* Sister JSOC units ** 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta ** 24th Special Tactics Squadron ** Intelligence Support Activity ** Regimental Reconnaissance Company *Additional SEAL articles **
List of Navy SEALs A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
* Other maritime-based special operations units ** GRUMEC (Brazil) ** Frømandskorpset (Denmark) ** Commandos Marine (France) ** Kampfschwimmer (Germany) ** MARCOS (India) ** Shayetet 13 (Israel) ** COMSUBIN (Italy) ** MARSOF (Netherlands) ** JW Formoza (Poland) ** Special Actions Detachment (Portugal) ** Commando Frogmen (Russia) ** Naval Special Warfare Force (Spain) ** Special Boat Service (UK) ** Kustjägarna (Sweden)


Notes


References


Further reading

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seal Team Six United States Joint Special Operations Command