Hostage rescue interventions can generally be broken down into five phases. Planning is the first phase and includes the five component parts of an operation. The second phase is a rehearsal . Hostage rescue interventions are too complex and too important to leave anything to chance. This allows unforeseen problems to be detected before execution.
Movement is the third phase.
Movement is the phase when it has been determined that a tactical intervention is likely but not necessarily imminent. During this time, the intervention team is deployed and staged. The fourth phase is the actual assault . This phase occurs only when a tactical intervention is required. Because this phase is the most visible and the success of the intervention hinges on this phase it is often confused with the entire operation by the news media.