United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group ( NSWDG ) , or DEVGRU , is a U . S . Navy component of Joint Special Operations Command . It is often referred to as SEAL Team Six , the name of its predecessor which was officially disbanded in 1987 . DEVGRU is administratively supported by Naval Special Warfare Command and operationally commanded by the Joint Special Operations Command . Most information concerning DEVGRU is classified and details of its activities are not usually commented on by either the White House or the Department of Defense . In 2010 it was reported DEVGRU ' s designation was changed by the Defense Department . Despite the official name changes , " SEAL Team Six " remains the unit ' s widely recognized moniker . It is sometimes referred to in the U . S . media as a Special Mission Unit . DEVGRU and its Army counterpart , Delta Force , are the United States military ' s primary counter - terrorism units . Although DEVGRU was created as a maritime counter - terrorism unit , it has become a multi - functional special operations unit with several roles that include high - risk personnel / hostage extractions and other specialized missions . The Central Intelligence Agency ' s highly secretive Special Activities Division ( SAD ) and more specifically its elite Special Operations Group ( SOG ) often works with — and recruits — operators from DEVGRU . The combination of these units led to the most significant special operations success in the Global War On Terror . History . The origins of DEVGRU are in SEAL Team Six , a unit created in the aftermath of Operation Eagle Claw . 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 . In the wake of the disaster at the Desert One base in Iran , the Navy saw the need for a full - time counter - terrorist unit , 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 . Eventually the unit was dubbed SEAL Team Six . At the time there were only two SEAL teams . Marcinko named the unit SEAL Team Six in order to confuse Soviet intelligence as to the number of actual SEAL teams in existence . The unit ' s plankowners were hand - picked by Marcinko from throughout the UDT / SEAL community . SEAL Team Six became the U . S . Navy ' s premier counter - terrorist unit . It has been compared to the U . S . Army ' s Delta Force . Marcinko held the command of SEAL Team Six for three years , from 1980 to 1983 , instead of the typical two - year command in the Navy at the time . SEAL Team Six was formally created in October 1980 , and an intense , progressive work - up training program made the unit mission - ready just six months later . 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 . The unit has virtually unlimited resources at its disposal . In 1987 SEAL Team Six was dissolved . A new unit named the " Naval Special Warfare Development Group " was formed , essentially as SEAL Team Six ' s successor . Reasons for the disbanding are varied , but the name " SEAL Team Six " is often used in reference to DEVGRU . Recruitment , selection and training . In the early stages of creating SEAL Team Six , Marcinko was given only six months to get ST6 up and running or the whole project would come to an end . This meant that there was a timing issue and Marcinko had little time to create a proper selection course , similar to that of Delta Force , and as a result hand - picked the first plankowner s of the unit after assessing their Navy records and interviewing each man . It has been said that Marcinko regretted not having enough time to set up a proper selection process and course . All applicants came from the Underwater Demolition Team s ( UDTs ) and East and West Coast SEAL teams . Marcinko ' s criteria for recruiting applicants was combat experience so he would know they could perform under fire ; language skills were vital , as the unit would have a worldwide mandate to communicate with the local population if needed ; union skills , to be able to blend in as civilians during an operation ; and finally SEAL skills . Members of SEAL Team Six were selected in part because of the different specialist skills of each man . The training schedule is without comparison in its intensity . A former Team member claims that in one year SEAL Team Six fired more rounds of ammunition than the entire U . S . Marine Corps ammunition allowance . The emphasis was on shooting skills , range firing , close - quarters battle ( CQB ) , and stress shooting in a variety of conditions . Information about the unit is mostly highly classified , so little is available about recruitment and selection . What is known is that the selection and training for the unit has not changed dramatically since its creation . All applicants come from the " regular " SEAL teams , unless applying for support positions ( there have been open advertisements on the web for support personnel ) . It can be inferred from the quality of their pool of applicants that those considered are in peak physical condition , maintain an excellent reputation as operators within the Naval Special Warfare community , and have done multiple operational deployments with a SEAL Team . As a result , the candidate will usually be in his 30s . As ST6 was recruiting the best and brightest SEALs / UDTs from the regular teams , this created animosity between the unit and the " regular " teams , who considered that their best SEALs were being poached for the unit . Candidates are interviewed by a review board to deem whether the candidate is suitable to undertake the selection phase . Those who pass the stringent recruitment and selection process will be selected to attend a six - to eight - month Operators Training Course . Candidates will screen with the unit ' s training wing known as " Green Team . " The training course attrition rate is high ; during one selection course , out of the original 20 candidates , 12 completed the course . All candidates are watched closely by DEVGRU instructors and evaluated on whether they are suitable to join the individual squadrons . Howard E . Wasdin , a former member of SEAL Team Six said in a recent interview that 16 applied for SEAL Team Six selection course and only two were accepted . Those who do not pass the selection phase are returned to their previous assignments and unlikely to be able to try again in the future . Like all Special Operations Forces units that have an extremely intensive and high - risk training schedule , there can be serious injuries and deaths . SEAL Team Six / DEVGRU has lost several operators during training , including parachute accidents and close - quarters battle training accidents . It is presumed that the unit ' s assessment process for potential new recruits is different from what a SEAL operator experienced in his previous career , and much of the training tests the candidate ' s mental capacity rather than his physical condition , as he will have already completed Basic Underwater Demolitions / SEAL or the Navy EOD training pipeline . Candidates are put through a variety of advanced training courses led by civilian or military instructors . These can include free - climbing , advanced unarmed combat techniques , defensive and offensive driving , advanced diving , and Survival , Evasion , Resistance and Escape ( SERE ) training . All candidates must perform at the top level during selection , and the unit instructors evaluate the candidate during the training process . Selected candidates are assigned to one of the Tactical Development and Evaluation Squadrons ; the others are returned to their previous units . Unlike the other regular SEAL Teams , SEAL Team Six operators were able to go to almost any of the best schools anywhere and train in whatever they wanted depending on the unit ' s requirements . Structure . DEVGRU is divided into color - coded line squadrons , which are commanded by Commanders : Each assault squadron is divided into three troops ( commanded by lieutenant commanders ) and troops are divided into smaller teams . Each line squadron has a specific nickname . Examples being Gold - Knights , Red - Indians , Black - Pirates . Commanding officers . Command of DEVGRU is a Captain ' s billet : Roles and responsibilities . When SEAL Team Six was first created it was devoted exclusively to counter - terrorism with a worldwide maritime responsibility ; its objectives typically included targets such as ships , oil rigs , naval bases , coastal embassies , and other civilian or military bases that were accessible from the sea or inland waterways . On certain operations small teams from SEAL Team Six were tasked with covertly infiltrating international high risk areas in order to carry out reconnaissance or security assessments of U . S . military facilities and embassies ; and to give advice on improvements in order to prevent casualties in an event of a terrorist attack . Although the unit was created as a maritime counter - terrorism unit , it has become a multi - functional special operations unit with multiple roles that include high - risk personnel / hostage extractions . Such operations include the successful rescue of Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted , the attempted rescue of Linda Norgrove , the successful rescue of American doctor Dilip Joseph and in 1991 the successful recovery of Haitian President Jean - Bertrand Aristide and his family during a coup that deposed him . After SEAL Team Six was disbanded and renamed , the official mission of the currently operating Naval Special Warfare Development Group is to test , evaluate , and develop technology and maritime , ground , and airborne tactics applicable to Naval Special Warfare forces such as Navy SEALs ; however , it is presumed this is only a small part of the group ' s work assignment and more of a cover . DEVGRU ' s full mission is classified but is thought to include pre - emptive , pro - active counter - terrorist operations , counter - proliferation ( efforts to prevent the spread of both conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction ) , as well as the elimination or recovery of high - value targets ( HVTs ) from unfriendly nations . DEVGRU is one of only a handful of U . S . Special Mission Unit s authorized to use pre - emptive actions against terrorists and their facilities . DEVGRU and the Army ' s Delta Force train and deploy together on counter - terrorist missions usually as part of a joint special operations task force ( JSOTF ) . Operations and covert actions . The majority of the operations assigned to DEVGRU are classified and may never be known to the public . However , there are some operations in which the unit has been involved where certain details have been made public . Operation Urgent Fury . On 13 March 1979 the People ' s Revolutionary Army , led by Maurice Bishop , overthrew the newly independent government of the small island of Grenada and established a new regime based on socialist principles . This brought it into continuing conflict with the United States , as the administration of U . S . President Reagan considered the leftist government to be too closely allied to Cuba and the Soviet Union . On 12 October 1983 a hard - line faction of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Government of Grenada , controlled by former Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard , took control of the government from Bishop and placed him under house arrest . Within days , Bishop and many of his supporters were dead , and the nation had been placed under martial law . The severity of the violence , coupled with Coard ' s hard - line Marxism , caused deep concern among neighboring Caribbean nations , as well as in Washington , D . C . Adding to the U . S . ' concern was the presence of nearly 1 , 000 American medical students in Grenada . On 25 October , the United States invaded Grenada , an operation codenamed Operation Urgent Fury . SEAL Team Six ' s Assault Group Three was to conduct a static line drop with boats a few miles away from the Grenadian coast . One of two C - 130 cargo planes transporting the SEALs to their drop point veered far off course . A rain squall accompanied by high winds broke out just before the SEALs conducted the drop . Four out of the eight SEALs that made the drop drowned and were never seen again . After the disastrous insertion , Assault Group Three was told to stand - by and began preparing for the next mission . The next mission was to go to the governor ' s mansion and secure Governor - General Paul Scoon , protect him and his family and move them out of the combat area . A second mission was to capture and secure Grenada ' s only radio station so that it couldn ' t be used by the local military to incite the population or coordinate military actions . There was almost no intelligence for either of these operations . Governor - General ' s mansion . To reach the governor - general ' s mansion , the SEALs were flown in on Black Hawk helicopters that morning , and fast - roped to the ground while under fire . As they approached from the back of the mansion , the team found Scoon hiding . The SEALs then continued to clear the rest of the house and began to set up a perimeter to ensure security . Soon the mansion started to take fire from men armed with AK - 47 s and RPG s . As the incoming fire started to increase , Governor - General Scoon and his family were moved to a safer location in the house . After the incoming fire had decreased , three men wearing Cuban uniforms approached the mansion , all of them carrying AK - 47s . The SEALs shouted for the three men to stop where they were . When the three men heard the yells , they raised their weapons . The SEALs opened fire on the Cubans and killed them almost instantly . Soon afterward , two BTR - 60 PBs rolled up to the mansion ' s gates . One of the BTRs at the mansion ' s front gate opened fire . Just as the SEALs were about to fire a LAW anti - tank rocket , the BTR backed off and left with the other BTR . When the SEALs had been inserted into the compound , they left behind their long - range SATCOM radio on a helicopter ; the only communications the team had were through MX - 360 radios . The team used the radios to communicate with a SEAL command post on the island to call in air strikes . As the radios ' batteries started to fade , communications with the SEAL command post became weak . Once all the radios had died , when the SEALs urgently needed air support , they used a regular house phone to call JSOC , which was able to get an AC - 130 Spectre gunship to hold station over the SEALs ' position to provide air support . When morning came , a group of Force Recon Marines arrived to escort the SEALs , Governor - General Scoon , and his family to a point from where they were evacuated by helicopter . Radio station . Assault Group Three and another squad from SEAL Team Six flew to the radio station on a Black Hawk helicopter . The helicopter took small - arms fire on the insertion . Once the team unloaded , it overran the radio station compound . The SEALs were told to hold the station until Governor Scoon and a broadcast team could be brought in . After the team took control of the compound , it was not able to make radio contact with the SEAL command post . The SEALs set up a perimeter while they continued to try to make radio contact . As this was happening , a BTR - 60 armored personnel carrier arrived , and 20 Grenadian soldiers disguised as station workers got out . The soldiers carried weapons even in disguise . The SEALs ordered the soldiers to drop the weapons . The soldiers opened fire but were shot down almost instantly . The SEALs continued trying to make radio contact , then another BTR and three trucks , carrying a dozen soldiers each , were spotted coming towards the station ; the soldiers flanked the building and the BTR covered the front entrance with its 14 . 5 mm KPV heavy machine gun . The incoming fire on the SEALs ' position was becoming devastatingly heavy , and they were running out of ammunition : the team knew that their only option was to change their original plan of holding the radio station , and instead destroy the radio transmitter , then head to the water following their pre - planned escape route out behind the station across a broad meadow that led to a path that cut between cliffs and a beach . The meadow was very exposed to Grenadian fire . The team leapfrogged across the exposed ground and took heavy fire , finally reaching the end of the field , cut through a chain - link fence , ran into dense brush , and followed the path to the beach . One SEAL had been wounded in the arm . The Grenadians were still in pursuit , so the SEALs waded into the water and began swimming parallel to the shore until they found cliff ledges in which to hide ; once the Grenadians had given up the search they swam out to sea , where they were in the water for nearly six hours until a rescue plane spotted them and vectored a US Navy ship to pick them up . Operation Gothic Serpent . During Operation Gothic Serpent in Somalia , DEVGRU was a part of Task Force Ranger . TF Ranger was made up of operators from Delta Force , the 75th Ranger Regiment , the 160th SOAR , the 24th Special Tactics Squadron , and SEALs from DEVGRU . Eric T . Olson , John Gay , Howard Wasdin , Homer Nearpass , and Richard Kaiser were the five SEALs that fought in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu during the last mission of Operation Gothic Serpent to capture the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid . Olson would receive the Silver Star for his actions which were cited as " . . . during combat actions in Mogadishu , Somalia , in October 1993 . While under withering enemy fire during actions in support of UNOSOM II operations , Captain Olson demonstrated a complete disregard for his own personal safety in the accomplishment of his mission " . Olson became commander of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group one year later . NATO intervention in Bosnia , 1992 – 95 . During NATO ' s intervention in the Bosnian War , the NSWDG operated alongside other members of NATO ' s Implementation Force , such as its Army counterpart Delta Force and the British SAS . These units were tasked with finding and apprehending persons indicted for war crimes ( PIFWC ) and returning them to The Hague to stand trial . Some of DEVGRU ' s PIFWC operations included apprehending Goran Jelisić , Simo Zaric , Milan Simic , Miroslav Tadic , and Radislav Krstić . Operation Enduring Freedom . In Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom ( OEF ) , U . S . Special Operations forces played a central role in the fighting . It was also here they began to specialize in counter - terrorist tactics and information . During the crucial Battle of Takur Ghar part of Operation Anaconda a small team of DEVGRU assigned to an Advanced Force Operations task force were tasked with establishing observation positions ( OPs ) on the high ground above the proposed landing zones of U . S . conventional forces . It was one of the most violent battles of Operation Anaconda . Late at night on 2 March 2002 a MH - 47 Chinook helicopter piloted by the 160th SOAR was carrying a team from DEVGRU . The original plan was that DEVGRU would be inserted at a point east of the peak , but circumstances led the SEALs to choose the summit of Takur Ghar itself as the insertion point . As the helicopter was nearing its landing zone both the pilots and the men in the back observed fresh tracks in the snow , goatskins , and other signs of recent human activity . As the pilots and team discussed a mission abort , an RPG struck the side of the aircraft , wounding one crewman as machine gun bullets ripped through the fuselage , cutting hydraulic and oil lines . Fluid spewed about the ramp area of the helicopter . As the pilot struggled to get the helicopter away Neil C . Roberts , a DEVGRU SEAL in the ramp area of the aircraft , was hit and slipped on the oil as the helicopter took off . He fell approximately to the snowy ground below . Roberts immediately engaged enemy forces with his weapons including an M249 light machine gun , SIG Sauer 9mm pistol and grenades . He survived at least 30 minutes before he was shot and killed at close range . Maersk Alabama hijacking and rescue , 12 April 2009 . MV " Maersk Alabama " , a 508 foot long cargo ship carrying 17 , 000 tons of humanitarian aid supplies , was seized by pirates 240 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia , in waters notorious for piracy . After a confrontation with the crew , three of the hi - jackers fled in the ship ' s lifeboat , taking Captain Richard Phillips with them as hostage and resulting in a stand - off with a group US Navy warships including , USS " Bainbridge " , USS " Halyburton " and USS " Boxer " . DEVGRU operators flew non - stop from Virginia to the Horn of Africa , then parachuted into the water , before finally arriving aboard the " Bainbridge " . Three of the operators , one for each pirate , took up sniper positions on the fantail of the ship , with presidential authorization to use lethal force , if it was required . At one point , following a struggle between the pirates and Capt . Phillips where shots were fired , the SEALs felt the hostage ' s life was in imminent danger . When the first opportunity appeared and the heads of all three captors were visible at the same time , all three snipers fired simultaneously , killing all three pirates at once with head - shots . Phillips was then successfully rescued , bringing the stand - off to an end . Death of Linda Norgrove , 8 October 2010 . Linda Norgrove , a Scottish aid worker , and three Afghan colleagues were kidnapped by members of the Taliban in Kunar Province , eastern Afghanistan , on 26 September 2010 . The three Afghan aid workers were released on 3 October 2010 while negotiations over Norgrove ' s release were ongoing . As a result of concerns that Norgrove might be killed or moved by her captors , 20 operators from NSWDG and 24 Rangers conducted a pre - dawn rescue attempt on a Taliban mountain hideout on 8 October 2010 during which she was killed . A joint official investigation by United Kingdom and United States concluded that Norgrove had died from a grenade thrown by one of the SEAL rescuers . A coroner ' s narrative verdict was recorded in February 2011 that stated Norgrove had died during a failed rescue attempt . Operation Neptune Spear . On 1 – 2 May 2011 DEVGRU ' s Red Squadron undertook the covert operation codenamed Operation Neptune Spear , under the CIA ' s authority , and killed Osama bin Laden , leader of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda , at his compound in the city of Abbottabad , 113 kilometers from Islamabad , the Federal capital of Pakistan . The attack itself lasted 38 minutes . Bin Laden ' s adult son , a woman , and two couriers were also killed . There were no casualties to the team . They had practiced the mission " on both American coasts " and in a segregated section of Camp Alpha at Bagram Airfield , Afghanistan in early April 2011 , using a one - acre replica of bin Laden ' s compound . Modified MH - 60 helicopters from the U . S . Army ' s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment carried DEVGRU operators and paramilitary operatives from the CIA ' s Special Activities Division . Other personnel supported with tactical signals , intelligence collectors , and navigators using highly classified hyperspectral imager s from Ghazi Air Base in Pakistan . Because of its covert nature , the raid was a CIA operation with DEVGRU being transferred under CIA authority for its duration . A 1 May memo from CIA Director Leon Panetta thanked the National Security Agency and the National Geospatial - Intelligence Agency , whose mapping and pattern - recognition software was likely used to determine that there was " high probability " that Bin Laden lived in the compound . Members of these agencies were paired with JSOC units in forward - deployed fusion cells to " exploit and analyze " battlefield data instantly using biometrics , facial recognition system s , voice print databases , and predictive models of insurgent behavior based on surveillance and computer - based pattern analysis . The operation was a result of years of intelligence work that included the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed ( KSM ) , the tracking of the courier to the Abbottabad compound by CIA paramilitary operatives , and the establishing of a CIA safe house that provided critical ground intelligence . To celebrate the first anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden the Combatting Terrorism Center released documents seized from Osama bin Laden ' s Abbottabad home . The " Associated Press " reported that the troops had been trained to search for documents , computer files and " pocket litter " " that might produce leads to other terrorists " . In popular culture , several books have tried to capture the events of the mission . The first of which was the 2011 graphic novel published by IDW Publishing , " Code Word : Geronimo " , written by retired Marine Corps Captain Dale Dye and Julia Dye , and illustrated by former U . S . Army combat medic Gerry Kissell . Later , the controversial book " Seal Target Geronimo " , by Chuck Pfarrer , a former Navy SEAL , that disputed the accounts by the DoD of how the events occurred the night of the raid on the compound . Finally , in 2012 , the book No Easy Day was released . The book was written by DEVGRU Red Squadron operator Matt Bissonnette ( writing under the pseudonym " Mark Owen " ) , who was part of Operation Neptune Spear and claimed to be one of the two operators who engaged Bin Laden . Then , in 2012 , a film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal was released called Zero Dark Thirty . The film portrayed the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the raid performed by DEVGRU . Another film , " " , depicting the events of Operation Neptune Spear , was also released in 2012 The events in the film have not been " confirmed nor denied " by White House officials . Afghanistan helicopter crash , 6 August 2011 . Fifteen members of DEVGRU ' s Gold Squadron were among the 38 killed on Saturday , 6 August 2011 in Maidan Wardak province , Afghanistan , when a Chinook helicopter flown by B Company , 7th Battalion , 158th Aviation Regiment , was shot down by a Taliban - fired rocket - propelled grenade ; the crash wiped out an entire troop . The personnel killed in the helicopter crash are said to have belonged to an " immediate reaction force " that were en route to intercept a group of Taliban who were escaping the area following an operation by United States Army Rangers . It was the largest single loss of U . S . life since the beginning of the 2001 Afghan War , and is the largest single loss ever suffered by the SEALs . Rescue of Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted . In a mission codenamed Octave Fusion , on 24 January 2012 , DEVGRU operators successfully rescued American Jessica Buchanan , 32 , and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted , 60 , who had been detained by Somali bandits in north - central Somalia . The pair had been abducted around the area of Galkayo three months earlier while working as aid workers helping to remove land mines . Officials stated plans for a rescue operation had been under development for weeks , but acted after discovering that Buchanan ' s health was deteriorating due to an undisclosed illness . DEVGRU was prepared to capture the hostage takers but this proved unfeasible and nine " heavily armed " kidnappers were killed . The SEALs were parachuted in at night before advancing two miles to the enemy compound on foot . After securing the safety of Buchanan and Thisted , the team , who suffered no injuries , were extracted by helicopter . Rescue of British - Afghan Aid Workers , 28 May 2012 . On Tuesday 28 May 2012 , a joint British SAS and DEVGRU operation rescued British aid worker Helen Johnston and three colleagues held captive by the Taliban in Badakhshan , Eastern Afghanistan . The hostages had been held in separate caves in a forest in a mountainous valley in Badakhshan , north - east Afghanistan . After concern for the aid worker ' s safety intelligence assets managed to locate the hostages and a rescue operation was initiated . The Joint Special Operations team flew to a pre - arranged rendezvous about two miles from where the hostages were being held and patrolled two miles through thick forest , moving into assault positions around the caves . The SAS team and SEALs assaulted the locations simultaneously rescuing all hostages successfully and killed a number of Taliban insurgents . There were no casualties amongst the rescue team . Rescue of Dr . Dilip Joseph , 8 December 2012 . On 8 December 2012 , DEVGRU rescued Dilip Joseph , an American doctor held captive by the Taliban in Eastern Afghanistan . Dr . Joseph , who was working for an aid organization , was kidnapped along with two Afghan colleagues at a road block by armed men and were moved to a compound in Laghma Province . The two Afghans were later released after negotiations . When intelligence indicated Dr . Joseph was in imminent danger a rescue operation was mounted . During the operation at least six of his Taliban captors were killed and two Taliban captured . A DEVGRU member involved in the rescue , Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas Checque , was also killed . Checque was a highly decorated combat veteran awarded with the Bronze Star Medal with Valor and the Purple Heart , among many others . Operation against Al - Shabaab in Barawa , 5 October 2013 . On October 5 , 2013 , United States Navy SEAL Team Six launched a raid against a beachside house in Barawa , targeting Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr , the leader of Al - Shabaab , but was unable to complete the mission , having come under heavy fire . The mission was aborted because the goal was to capture the leader alive for intelligence purposes .