The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), commonly known as DEVGRU and informally by its former name SEAL Team Six (ST6),[1][2] is one of the United States' four secretive counter-terrorism and Special Mission Units (SMUs).
The vast majority of information about DEVGRU is highly classified, and details of its activities are not commented on by either the White House or the Department of Defense.[3] While DEVGRU is administratively supported by the Naval Special Warfare Command, it is operationally commanded by the Joint Special Operations Command. It is based at Training Support Center Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach, Virginia, known as FTC Dam Neck until 2004.
The CIA's highly secretive Special Activities Division (SAD) and more specifically its elite Special Operations Group (SOG) recruits operators from SEAL Team Six.[5] Joint Navy SEALs and CIA operations go back to the famed MACV-SOG group during the Vietnam War.[6] This cooperation still exists today and is seen in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.[7][8]
History
The origins of ST6 can be traced to the aftermath of Operation Eagle Claw, the failed 1980 attempt to rescue American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Iran.[9][10][11] During the Iran hostage crisis in 1979, Richard Marcinko was one of two U.S. Navy representatives for a Joint Chiefs of Staff 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, which culminated in
Operation Eagle Claw. In the wake of the operation's disaster at the Desert One base in Iran, the Navy saw the need for a full-time dedicated Counter-Terrorist Team, and tasked Marcinko with its design and development.
Marcinko was the first commanding officer of this new unit, which was first called MOB 6 (Mobility 6) and Sixth Platoon, but eventually named the unit, SEAL Team Six. At the time there were only two United States Navy SEAL (SEa, Air and Land) teams; Marcinko named the unit Team Six in order to confuse Soviet intelligence as to the number of actual SEAL teams in existence.[12][11][13] The men in the unit were hand-picked by Marcinko from across the U.S. Navy's Special Operations personnel. SEAL Team Six became known as the U.S. Navy's premier counter-terrorist unit. It has been compared to the U.S. Army's Delta Force.[3][10] Marcinko held the command of SEAL Team Six for three years, from 1980 to 1983, instead of the typical two-year command stint in the Navy at the time.
[11] SEAL Team Six was formally created in October 1980, and an intense, progressive work-up training program made the unit mission-ready six months later.
The existing SEAL teams, including 12 platoons in SEAL Team One on the West Coast, had already begun counter-terrorism training; they formed a dedicated two-platoon group known as "MOB Six" (Mobility Six) in anticipation of a maritime scenario requiring a counter-terrorism response, and had begun training to that end.[13] SEAL Team Six started with 75 shooters. According to Dick Marcinko, the annual training allowance for the command was larger than that of the entire U.S. Marine Corps. Their funding is the main thing that separates SEAL Team Six/NSWDG from the "regular" SEAL teams. They are given a large amount of money and are able to buy the best weapons and equipment available.[14]
