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Beslan, USA?
by Matthew Heidt.A special forces/SWAT guy considers the possibilities. Hat tips to the Instapundit and Hugh Hewitt. I don't have the training or experience to evaluate this guy's argument, but he seems to know what he's talking about. There's a lot of people here with experience in intel and special ops that I don't have (Fred, Old Spook, Bodyguard, etc.); I would be very interested in your comments. . . . I have done quite a bit of thinking on the Russian school massacre. I have been a member of not only SEAL platoons, but also the U.S. Customs (now ICE) Special Response Team (SRT) in San Diego. As you might imagine, both of these experiences taught me a great deal and added quite a bit to my tactical toolbox. One of the most important distinctions between the operators, training, and leadership of these two similar, but different entities is one of mindset. I heard CSM Eric Haney (plankowner of Delta Force) on O'Reilly today discuss the difference between this hostage situation in Russia (and Iraq for that matter) and traditional hostage scenarios that occurred prior to 9/11. He correctly pointed out that the days of negotiating, wear them down siege situations are over. Terrorists now do not threaten to kill hostages until demands are met, they just start killing them until their demands are met. This is a disturbing tactical challenge that I believe our Federal, State, and Local SRT/SWAT assets are completely unprepared for. CSM Haney correctly pointed out the fact that Delta Force/SEAL Team SIX will NOT be available for a domestic situation of this type because they are fully engaged in the GWOT or at least several hours away in any case. FBI HRT in the same way would likely be hours away, and for reasons I will explain, not be of much more use. In my SEAL platoons, we conducted assaults training in various situations always working up to live fire exercises when possible. While I can't speak for SIX or Delta, at no time in any of my assault training were the issues of negotiation, the priority of operator safety, or hasty retreat in the event of a well defended enemy brought up. We were taught to go in once we had received execute authority, dominate the house, kill the tangos, save the hotels, and patch up the wounded amongst the SEALs and hostages as needed. Maybe that was an oversight on behalf of my various training staffs, but somehow I don't think so. The platoon would hit the house pretty much no matter what unless we were effectively engaged during the approach to the structure at which point we would got to immediate action drill mode and things would get messy. But the idea of going into a structure in extremis was accepted as part of the deal, and it was up to us to create conditions under which we might gain advantage, but nevertheless make the hit. In SRT, I went through some outstanding training (which I did not expect) and I came away from the Customs SRT school a more well rounded operator to be sure. Our focus was performing high-risk search/arrest warrants that were usually narcotics related, but counter-terrorism was also a mission as we are part of Homeland Security. While we did have SOPs for agent rescue scenarios, there was always a focus on the principle that the mission was secondary to agent safety. We had SOPs for retreating during certain situations, and we practiced them often. This is not to denigrate SRT/SWAT operators, but to say that there is a difference. One critical difference for my SRT was the lack of breaching options. . . . That is why we are vulnerable to this type of terror attack, and why it could end up just as badly as the Russians. Remember, at Columbine, the SWAT did not enter the school until hours after the attack began. The two idiots there had already assumed room temperature by the time law enforcement got there. Britain uses the SAS to resolve internal hostage situations (Iranian Embassy), but they are so much smaller a nation and they don't have Posse Comitatus either. What is the answer? Do we want to completely evolve our nations law enforcement tactical teams into de facto military units? I don't see what else we can do. . . . See also a followup post here. Posted by: Mike 2004-09-09 |
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