Business Insider: Meet SEAL Team 6, the badasses who rescued Jessica Buchanan last night
Team 6 became front page news following the May 2 raid at Osama bin Laden’s compound. Here, US soldiers from 703rd EOD Company, 2nd Platoon, Team 6, return with their armored vehicles following a controlled detonation of munitions outside Camp Clark in Mandozai district, Khost province, eastern Afghanistan on July 4, 2011.
The special forces team that swept into Somalia last night to rescue two rescue workers is an elite military group called SEAL Team 6.
Officially, the team's name is classified and not available to the public — technically there is no team 6.
A Tier-One counter-terrorism force similar to the Army's elusive Delta group, Team 6's missions rarely make it to paper much less the newspaper.
Of course, all that changed following the May 2 raid at Osama bin Laden's compound when Team 6 became front page news.
The members of Team 6 are all "black" operatives. They exist outside military protocol, engage in operations at the highest level of classification and often outside the boundaries of international law.
To maintain plausible deniability when things go wrong records of black operations are rarely if ever kept.
The development of SEAL Team 6 was in response to the 1980 rescue attempt of the American hostages held in Iran. A monumental failure, the mission fell apart but illustrated the need for a dedicated counter-terrorist team capable of sucess, combined with the utmost secrecy.
The Team was labeled '6' to confuse Soviet intelligence about the number of SEAL teams in operation at the time. There were only two others.
Team 6 poached the top operatives from other SEAL units and trained them even more intensely from there. Even among proven SEALs the attrition rate for Team 6 is reported to be nearly half.
There are no names available for current Team 6 members, but the CIA recruits heavily from their numbers for their Special Operations Group, so Team 6 is often chosen to work with the CIA on top secret missions like those operating in Somalia.
Team 6 is traditionally devoted to missions with maritime authority: ship rescues, oil rigs, naval bases or land bases accessible by water.
When a former Navy SEAL was called for a comment about Team 6 all he could say was: "You know I'd love to help you man, but I can't say a word about Team 6. There is no Team 6."
Robert Johnson is the military, defense, and features reporter for the main page of Business Insider.
More from our partner Business Insider:
Business Insider: The Next 17 Big Companies That Are At Risk Of Bankruptcy
Business Insider: 14 Major Risks That Used To Be The Stuff Of Science Fiction
Business Insider: CONFESSIONS OF A FACEBOOK EMPLOYEE: What It's Really Like Working For Zuckerberg
Business Insider: Steve Jobs May Have Been An Arrogant Jerk, But He Wasn't A Narcissist
Business Insider: The BBC's Most Popular TV Host Has Managed To Piss Off 1.2 Billion People
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.