In the wake of recent failed operations to rescue American hostages, the top-secret intelligence community is studying new methods for their daring and dangerous missions to defeat terrorists.
The special operations community believe that their hostage rescue and terrorist targeting missions are likely being compromised by detailed news accounts and Hollywood movies, according to
The Washington Times, citing sources.
The current methods usually consist of a commando team being inserted into the danger zone at night by a silenced helicopter or boat, and then rappelling down a rope or running to the target point, all while wearing special night goggles.
But that method no longer works, the newspaper reported.
"We’ve got one way of doing things, and the enemy is on to it because they’ve published these news reports and movies and all the rest of it," said a veteran intelligence expert. "It’s time for some new tactics because the old ones are not working anymore."
Retired Rear Adm. George Worthington, the Navy’s former top SEAL, had one reason why al-Qaida and other terror groups are getting the upper hand against the best commandos in the world:
"Movies — all they need to do is get the movies."
He was referring to Hollywood’s lifelike portrayal of counterterrorism techniques employed by the U.S., specifically the operation to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden, said the Times, which noted that the SEAL Team 6 raid and the resulting movie drew attention to how counterterrorist insertions are carried out.
Kenneth McGraw, of the U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida, said, "USSOCOM has a robust lessons learned program and (Special Operations Forces) are constantly reviewing the results of operations to determine if changes need to be made to training, doctrine, or tactics, techniques and procedures."
But Worthington pointed out that switching tactics was not nearly as easy as it sounds, while even admitting that he was "not sure how you go about doing that."
He added, "You have to get some place. There’s several ways to do it, sea, air, land, if you will. Every operation is a different one. It’s an equal-opportunity battlefield. They get to shoot back. They see the 'ops' go bad on them, they figure out how to fix it."
The most recent failed rescue operation occurred early this month in Yemen, when a SEAL Team 6 mission to
save American photojournalist Luke Somers ended with his death at the hands of the terror group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
The commandos touched down several miles away in two Ospreys, which fly as fixed-wing aircraft and land and take off vertically. But when the team reached 100 yards from the target, they were spotted by a guard in what was seen as a case of bad luck.
"He was just outside the compound," a special operations community source told the Times. "When they take a piss, they kneel down. They’re Muslims, and they don’t stand erect like we do. He was down kind of flat-footed behind a bush and saw these guys coming and he yelled to the guys inside and ran in."
The terrorists shot and killed Somers and South African hostage Pierre Korkie before many of them were shot by the SEAL team, who got out safely.
In the Osama bin Laden mission, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who headed the Pentagon the night the terror leader died, wrote in his memoir,
"Duty," that he had warned the White House not to reveal details about the operation.
"I reminded everyone that the techniques, tactics, and procedures the SEALs had used in the bin Laden operation were used every night in Afghanistan and elsewhere in hunting down terrorists and other enemies," he wrote.
"It was therefore essential that we agree not to release any operational details of the raid. Everybody in that room agreed to keep mum on details.
"That commitment lasted about five hours," Gates wrote. "The initial leaks came from the White House and CIA. They just couldn’t wait to brag and to claim credit."
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