To lawyers, this is a distinction with a difference. and direct action combat. Operatives can covertly enter enemy buildings to plant cameras. He seemed equally satisfied when they reported the next morning that the clandcam was up and recording and that they would have the product with them when they returned the next morning. Lawyers for both Titles within the respective DOD and CIA bureaucracies, fought to preserve their interpretations of applications, to prevent one department from intruding into the territory of the other. You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article. However, Operation Anaconda is one of few of the ISAs Afghanistan operations known to the public. Nowadays the ISA focuses on the preparation of the battlespace for military operations across the globe. Meyer was incensed at the lack of CIA interest/dedication/support to the rescue task and believed that was a major factor in the failure. By continuing to use this site you consent to our use of cookies. During these operations, the ISA operated alongside other combat groups, providing them with signals intelligence support and field intelligence, including HUMINT. They are known by many names: Task Force Orange; the Intelligence Support Activity; The Activity; the Army of Northern Virginia; the Field Operations Group (FOG); the United States Army Intelligence Support Activity, or just shortened to Intelligence Support Activity (USISA). Operatives infiltrated internet cafes in Baghdad and conducted flyover operations in aircraft filled with signal interception gear. (Source), The ISAs selection and training is geared towards intelligence specialisation despite conducting occasional direct engagement. US Navy SEALs | ISA operatives are masters of tradecraft. US Army Intelligence Support Activity (USAISA), also known as ISA, The Activity, GREY FOX and, in recent times, the Mission Support Activity (MSA), is a top secret Army intelligence unit. Distinctive Unit Insignia of the US Army Intelligence Support Activity (USAISA), Task Force Orange; the Intelligence Support Activity; The Activity; the Army of Northern Virginia; the Field Operations Group (FOG); the United States Army Intelligence Support Activity, or just shortened to Intelligence Support Activity (USISA). It is known that the unit has changed its codename over the years. The moronic mandarins merely blinked and nothing more. The following article on the Intelligence Support Activity was copied from Specwarnet.net online. On October 23, 1983, a truck bomb slammed into the US Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 Americans, and injuring scores more. The intelligence gathering part was named "Buckeye" and consisted of CIA, NSA and Torn Victor operatives. USSOCOM receives, reviews, coordinates and prioritizes all Defense Department plans that support the global campaign against terrorism. The force is supposedly around 250-275 operators. Its purpose is unlike many other special operations forces of the US military, not dedicated to direct combat, and more towards secretive and clandestine actions necessary to support other military operations. The unit is provided with the best equipment money can buy and it is known it maintained a fleet of aircraft at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Join our mailing list to stay in the loop for free! Deployed together with a small Delta Force contingent, Centra Spike flew over Colombia in their airplanes and continued to track Escobar. I could tell by her skunk-eye that she had a dagger in the pipe ready to launch, so I lightened up. Smith's book lifts the lid of secrecy on the Activity, one of America's least well known Special Ops units. Like many special operations groups, their active arsenal is not likely a small rigid loadout, it is a range of various weapons that are available to suit the units needs. Delta's deployment was stalled by bureaucratic dealings, so ISA mobilized its most compartmentalized unit, the direct action element, the shooters. This was the birth of the Field Operations Group (FOG)-later ISA/Secret Army of Northern Virginia. The strategists decided the best option would be to send an ISA team in to provide accurate intelligence on the situation, and to prepare to secure landing zones for a Delta rescue force. What does one actually do with such persons? 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Immediately after, he would be dropped off in a city, and asked to perform clandestine activities. A Congressional hearing was held, and the media revealed the existence of a 'classified military intelligence unit'. The US Department of Defense has defined direct action as "Short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and which employ specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage designated targets. With the expansion, the FOG has renamed the ISA and officially established as a unit on January 29th, 1981. The Cantor sent me out as usual to throw the lock, wait for our operational vehicle to pass, then shut it again. "Known as the Intelligence Support Activity, or ISA, when it was established in . Its worth noting that Bravo troop was never compromised while conducting espionage against the Assad regime in Syria. FOG was developed because of a perceived need for greater intelligence-gathering capabilities for the U.S. military. Additionally, ISA recruits from other branches of the US military and potentially elsewhere in the intelligence community. Fort Belvoir, North Virginia, United States. (Source) These collectively will compose some of the roles within a primary battalion of the ISA. "Known as the Intelligence Support Activity, or ISA, when it was established in 1981, this unit fought in drug wars and counter-terror operations from the Middle East to South America. (Source). ISA has gone by many names over the years but its current one is not public knowledge. People know ISA mostly for its involvement in Operation Anaconda. Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 operators on the loose? Its members often use disguises to avoid detection and if they are compromised they can quickly disappear from sight and completely change their appearance. Intelligence Support Activity The Army's most obscure special-ops unit is the roughly 300-strong Intelligence Support Activity, formed in 1981, which has gone by various codenames over the years. Delta Force and SEAL Team Six were scrambled in preparation to liberate the hostages if needed, as the airplane hopped back and forth from Beirut to Algiers. We provided documents for viewing from both the Agency and DOD lawyers supporting the organization and outlining the rationale. Special Recon, Direct Action. The ISA initially had only support activity and HUMINT gathering functions. More technical training on SIGINT, such as transmission and signals interpretation is also a component of the training. The Intelligence Support Activity, commonly called "The Activity" . During the operation, a rivalry developed between Centra Spike, and a CIA intelligence unit named Majestic Eagle. Operatives must also go unnoticed, being able to blend into crowds and not draw attention. Under the US Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service, there is a Special Activities Division to operate without apparent national identification for plausible deniability. })(); Intelligence Support Activity provides US special forces with intelligence gatherers, man hunters, assassins and deep penetration agents. _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); The monitoring of guerilla factions allowed the Salvadoran Army to successfully defend against their attacks. 2023 The SOFREP Media Group. Once a member of the ISA passes the initial selection, it trains alongside different intelligence specialists, including members of the CIA. Plus, they wouldnt have to load the car back up again the next day what a grand and magnanimous plan that proved to be. However, our personal favorite is a toss-up between Cemetery Wind and Gray Fox. The raid was cancelled over fears that the French and Italians tipped Karadzic off. FOG became permanent and renamed ISA on March 3, 1981. The situation looked dire. Covert operations are shrouded in plausible deniability. Their role is to bridge the gaps when it is simply too dangerous for other agencies to put boots on the ground, and as these gaps change in every operational environment, so too do their responsibilities and activities. Through their mastery of SIGINT, the ISA quickly got on the task of intercepting radio and telephone transmissions. These deployments include Operation Winter Harvest, Operation Queens Hunter and their role in Operation Anaconda. ISA agents even managed to obtain Lebanese license plates, which would allow Delta to be parachuted in with their own cars, then 'legitimized' with the plates. But, it was also clear that some form of operational melding was essential to effectively address operational requirements. Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance, otherwise known as Force Recon, are a company-sized (about 200) recon and direct-action element that falls directly under the Marine Expeditionary Force. ISA. Little is known about the organization or its activities, but it is clear that they serve as a military intelligence unit and have partaken in numerous missions around the globe. "Gray Fox's low-profile eavesdropping planes also fly without military markings. INSCOM's functional brigades and groups may provide general support, general support reinforcing, or direct sup-port to theaters through intelligence reach, or they may be The aim of the operation was to monitor cross-border raids and movements of Sandinista forces and rebels in El Salvador. action is "necessary to support identifiable foreign policy objectives of the United States, and is RecPak is a meal replacement for the outdoors that saves you weight, space and time in the most challenging environments, just add water. At last, he came back, and, handing me the tools lamented: I couldnt get that fucker!. However, the CIA couldnt provide these answers so Delta turned to the FOG. Sound Like You? It was late in the evening after a long day and long drive for the mandarins, who finally stopped to stay the night in one of the many safe houses we had scattered throughout the country. The Activity's primary role is to gather actionable intelligence in order to pave the way for special operations undertook by units such as Delta Force (known as 'operational preparation of the battlespace'). The Activity's primary role is to gather actionable intelligence in order to pave the way for special operations undertook by units such as Delta Force (known as 'operational preparation of the battlespace'). ISA would operate under a host of cover names to confuse anyone without the need to know. Delta troop is tasked with countries that are a softer target for infiltration such as the Philippines or Morocco. Some of the more well-documented operations of the ISA shed light on the general nature of the ISAs overall operations. This extra length concealed the main eavesdropping antennas, while others could be lowered from the belly while in flight. "The government realized the importance of the FOG. The most important thing to know is that intelligence drives "direct action" operations. Hostages were dispersed around Beirut and those with Jewish sounding names were being isolated. As with any clandestine unit, only so much can be known about any of the JSOC special mission units. Under the umbrella group of Joint Special Operations Task Force 20, the Intelligence Support Activity helped track down and locate Saddam Hussein. The other half flew to Cyprus to join the rest of the rescue force. (function() { Good enough, I thought. The US Department of Defense has defined direct action as "Short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and which employ specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage designated targets. Retired Army Col. Paris Davis stood in the White House as President Biden draped the Medal of Honor around his neck, nearly Chief Special Warfare Operator Michael T. Ernst died following a "military freefall training accident" on Feb. 19 in Marana Lt. Col. Collin Charlie Christopherson, the commander of the 1st Special Operations Maintenance Squadron, was arrested How much do you know about the morale machine that's been deploying with U.S. troops since WWII? "In late 1981, ISA agents were involved in the attempt to acquire a Soviet T-72 tank, which had obsessed intelligence analysts. These operatives were responsible for helping take down insurgent networks in Iraq. ISA recommended covert deployment of its operatives to both airports to secure landing zones and infiltration routes. Sadly, the team's evaluation did not serve to upgrade American security standards, and a truck bomb exploded from within 40 feet of the embassy entrance later that year. There was a task I did for the Cantor routinely and at a moments notice. US Army intelligence defines HUMINT as including: The sources of this information can come from enemy combatants, including regular armed forces, and civilian sources. My team, me and happy-trigger-fingered Kay-Kay, were to position north of the ambush site, report the approach of the Generals car, then pull our car out onto the highway to block traffic for the hot minute it took the assault force to stop Klandanjs car and scoop him up. Bravo troop tackles the extremely difficult target countries like Syria which had a sophisticated counterintelligence network. (Source). Cake duty! Officials developed a contingency plan for the new situation: ISA operators were to infiltrate the city and confirm the locations of the hostages, as well as make contact with the Lebanese Christian militia. Dozier was taken hostage and mistreated, with the Red Brigades viewing him as an ideological foe that needed to be made an example of. var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; "Also in 1989, ISA was rumoured to have taken part in the hunt for the richest drug trafficker in the world, Pablo Escobar, operating under the code-name Centra Spike. (Source), Under the operational codename Centra Spike, the Intelligence Support Activity operated alongside CIA and local police elements to track down Escobar. The Intelligence Support Activity (ISA), the 1st Capabilities Integration Group (Airborne), or simply The Activity is a component of the US Army and acts as a dedicated intelligence group for SOCOM. Are you one of them? > Role: HUMINT (human intelligence), SIGINT (signals intelligence), direct action. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING VETERAN JOURNALISM - JOIN SOFREP+ . Tracking dummy targets over Medellin, Centra Spike managed to pinpoint their locations within 200 meters, while Majestic Eagle came no closer than four miles. Most ISA trainees are from Army Special Forces, meaning many have skills in CQC, sniping, counter-sniping and general tactical engagements. The TRADOC DCS, G-2 develops, describes, and delivers the OE in order to support the Army's preparations to fight and win the nation's wars. "These commands and white Special Forces like the Green Berets, as well as Air Force combat controllers and commandos of eight different nations report to a mind-boggling array of new command cells and coordination units set up after Sept. The ISA considers ethnicity of agents when they are deployed. "On December 17, 1981, Colonel James Dozier, the highest ranking American army officer in the NATO southern European Command was kidnapped by members of the Red Brigade terrorist faction. With dramatis personae that include the CIA, Delta Force, DEVGRU, the Intelligence Support Activity, Pakistani Commandos, the Taliban, and spies from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI), this story has the makings of a future Brad Thor bestseller. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING VETERAN JOURNALISM - JOIN SOFREP+ Though its history is relatively brief and known missions it has undertaken even briefer, it has become one of the most interesting and influential special operations groups at the disposal of JSOC and the US military. I though not wanting to be the harsh critic at jump street found it rather novice of them the way they got their camera compromised. They began forming their own plan for storming the airplane and liberating the hostages. This is a potentially significant compromise. the Cantor lamented in earnest. and other specialized capabilities to support Army, joint, unified action partners, and the U.S. intelligence commu-nity. In addition to covert operations, it provides the war on terrorism with the kind of so-called 'close-in' signals monitoring -- including the interception of cell phone conversations -- that helped bring down Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. What is the difference between the Seasonal Tactical Fitness Periodization programs recently developed vs. previous years? Direct action (DA) is a term used in the context of military special operations for small-scale raids, ambushes, sabotage or similar actions. "Also in 1982, an ISA team was sent to Sudan to provide protection to Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry and his vice president. Smith's book lifts the lid of secrecy on the Activity, one of America's least well known Special Ops units. The mission support teams help actualize the other major goal of supporting other forces in a battlespace. ISA operatives are highly skilled in the various arts of HUMINT gathering including: (Source). The mandarins had inexplicably turned and ran south back to our home base leaving no rear guard for the main body. So there they were sitting in our Tactical Operations Center in Bosnia waiting to be integrated into our PIFWC hunting operations. Talk about close target recce. Thats pretty frickin ballsy. Two people with a lockpick kit and a camera. Additionally, ISA gathers SIGINT primarily by intercepting enemy communications or sending an agent to physically bug a target. In 1989, during Operation Just Cause, the American invasion of Panama, ISA proposed to deploy a team of its intelligence agents to track Manuel Noriega, but the offer was declined. "When the first rescue attempt of the hostages in Iran failed, a second attempt, code-named Honey Badger, immediately started. Such as procuring equipment, getting funding for operations/training, and human resources functions. The ISA also has a direct action arm comprised of men and women recruited from the US Army Delta . With robust designs and vintage classic style, discover the heritage of military timepieces today! The cover of these operatives is typically much harder to develop since it requires a reason to be in and out of the target country on a frequent basis, and to have inauspicious ties to the target country. COL Nightingale is a retired Army Colonel who served two tours in Vietnam with Airborne and Ranger (American and Vietnamese) units. A top-secret 'Army electronic surveillance team', was sent to aid the Colombians in August of 1989, as a part of Operation Heavy Shadow. Intelligence Support Activity - Role The Activity's primary role is to gather actionable intelligence in order to pave the way for special operations undertook by units such as Delta Force (known as 'operational preparation of the battlespace'). Ironically, the embassy in Iran was on their itinerary, but, history intervened, and it was overrun by a mob who took the larger part of the staff hostage. In sum, Uniforms do Clandestine, Civvies do Covert. This time, the manhunt for Escobar was being led by Col. Hugo Martinez, who did not intend to let Escobar get away, and who operated with ruthless efficiency, aided by Centra Spike's intelligence. The ISA differs from its brother and sister task forces in that it is not primarily a combat-oriented team, excelling in HUMINT and SIGINT operations that allow it to provide extremely valuable intelligence to other military elements. At one point during the Global War on Terror, ISA along with a component from the Airforce and Delta began to build a fleet of ISR aircraft. 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Later that same year, Delta Force and ISA operators were sent to Saudi Arabia to help organize and train a Special Purpose Detachment of the Saudi National Guard. ISA operatives often work in disguise and undercover. In 1979 the need for a dedicated special operations intelligence unit was solidified following the overthrowing of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. The unit's history, the politics that have shaped it and the operations it has carried out are recounted in great and fascinating detail. The exact makeup of ISAs force structure is hard to determine. Centra Spike agents operated all around Colombia, as well as neighbouring countries where the cartels influence extended. The situation quickly worsened, until officials in the US embassy were in genuine concern for their lives, so much that the ambassador cabled for immediate help. Given the nature of their operations and the close work and training they receive alongside other US special operations forces, much of their equipment is likely to mimic that of the special mission units they support and work alongside. and other specialized capabilities to support Army, joint, unified action partners, and the U.S. intelligence commu-nity. October 16, 2020 They are known by many names: Task Force Orange; the Intelligence Support Activity; The Activity; the Army of Northern Virginia; the Field Operations Group (FOG); the United States Army Intelligence Support Activity, or just shortened to Intelligence Support Activity (USISA). Clothing worn by locals, even in specific areas. by Michael Smith Everyone in the unit is on on the Department of the Armys Special Roster, which means they dont exist. For obvious reasons, the unit doesnt exactly publicize their makeup. Officially formed in 1980 as FOG then transitioning to the USAISA from 1981 to 1989, this unit now operates under changing names like Capacity Gear or Quiet Enable. An investigation by journalist Mark Bowden (author of Blackhawk Down) revealed that in 1989, the Colombian government asked for US help in tracking down Escobar. The planners in DAMO-ODSO were acutely aware of the different legal authorities contained in Title 10 and Title 50 statutes. Infiltration relies much less on stealthy engagement, and much more on subtlety and effective tradecraft. The unit's history, the politics that have shaped it and the operations it has carried out are recounted in great and fascinating detail. These operatives have a cover in the commercial sector, typically as an international businessperson. What was needed was a SOF unit devoted to intelligence gathering and preparing the battlespace for other SOF operators. But it had no effect on me or what I was doing not for now at least. It was so simple that we didnt even need to create a nursery rhyme to recite to help us remember all the steps. The vast majority of their operations are clouded not just in shadow, but in complete darkness.