Sean Naylor’s new book, “Relentless Strike” reveals some of the psy-ops missions— and proposed ideas — by Joint Special Operations Command.
Fake hijacking
After 9/11, Delta Force operators brainstormed for ways to deter future hijackings. They suggested that the government, in conjunction with the FBI and the airlines, “leak out that there are Delta operators on board almost every flight and then do a fake takedown” using role players “in a first-class compartment that’s all stooges” on an otherwise regular commercial flight, said a Delta source.
A “terrorist” would attempt a hijacking before operators in plain clothes took him down “with hand-to-hand or something,” the source said. “Get that out [via the media]. Get inside their heads.” The aim was to “at least make [al Qaeda] think twice and begin to think, ‘Hey, they’re onto us, there’s special mission unit guys on every airplane.’ ”
But the plan didn’t make it far up the chain of command and was quickly nixed.
Hat tricks
The Delta operators left a few NYPD and FDNY baseball caps as calling cards on the objective. “It was basically a ‘F – – – you — we’ve been here,’ ” said an officer.
Ice, ice baby
In the early days of the war in Afghanistan, commanders wanted to convince the Taliban that there was a greater US presence along the southern stretch of Highway 1 (the ring road that connects most major Afghan cities, including Kabul and Kandahar) than there actually was.
A series of parachutes was dropped from a Combat Talon transport aircraft flying over the hills outside Kandahar. Attached to the parachutes were large blocks of ice. The idea was that once the parachutes landed the ice would melt and the chutes would blow across the landscape until someone found and reported them, sowing seeds of paranoia in the Taliban’s minds as they wondered where the paratroopers might be.
Down on the farm
In 2005, Delta operators were trying to capture Ghassan Amin, a top lieutenant of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Intelligence said that Amin owned a farm west of Rawa, Iraq, on the banks of the Euphrates.
Capt. Doug Taylor and his men — including several Arabic speakers — snuck onto Amin’s farm before the day heated up. The operators quickly sequestered the real farmworkers in the farmhouse.
Taking the farmhands’ places, they worked the fields — even driving a tractor — and waited. After some time, their prey approached.
“Ghassan Amin and his two henchmen drove right up to the guys,” said a special mission unit officer. Amin walked to within a couple of feet of an operator and greeted him in Arabic, before belatedly realizing his mistake as the operators whipped out their weapons and took him and his cohorts prisoner.