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Selection, training and leadership are vital to any special operations team, regardless of their size or mission parameters. The more rigorous the selection process, the more comprehensive the training, the more professional the leadership, the better the unit will perform.<\/p>\n
Delta Force\u2019s Operators Training Course, for example, is six months long, and teaches advanced CQB, precision marksmanship, counterterrorism and a host of esoteric skills needed by Delta operators to meet their worldwide mission requirements. OTC is only open to candidates who survive Delta\u2019s arduous Selection and Assessment phase.<\/p>\n
DEVGRU\u2019s Green Team selection and training course is also six months long, and only Navy SEALs who have completed BUDS and spent at last five years on an SDV or SEAL team can apply. MARSOC Raider candidates must complete a nine-month course, known as the Marine Special Operations Individual Course, or ITC. MARSOC Officers must also attend a four-week Team Commanders Course after they graduate ITC.<\/p>\n
Army Special Forces candidates can spend six months to two years training before they earn an SF tab and a Green Beret, and the pipeline for Air Force special operators can take 15 months to two years. Special Agents who want to join the FBI\u2019s Hostage Rescue Team must pass the New Operator Training School, which is 10 months long and extremely easy to fail.<\/p>\n
United States Secret Service Counter Assault Team (CAT) members undergo a two-week selection course and then a seven-week basic training program. Secret Service snipers must pass a one-week selection process and then a 10-week sniper training course. Candidates for Border Patrol\u2019s Tactical Unit (BORTAC) undergo a three-week selection course and then a six-week training course before being assigned to a sector team. After a year, they can apply to join BORTAC\u2019s elite national team.<\/p>\n
By comparison, training for ATF\u2019s Special Response Teams takes only two weeks, and ATF agents call themselves \u201coperators\u201d after they\u2019ve completed the course.<\/p>\n
Poor Leadership<\/strong><\/p>\nATF refers to its SRT teams as \u201celite tactical groups.\u201d According to a September 2020 report from the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) titled \u201cFederal Tactical Teams: Characteristics, Training, Deployments, and Inventory,\u201d ATF\u2019s Special Response Team was created in 1989 and has 114 members. From 2015 to 2019, the SRT was deployed 886 times. More than 85% of the deployments were to execute arrest and\/or search warrants.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir work includes search and arrest warrants, high-risk criminal investigations, undercover operations, surveillance operations, and protective service operations,\u201d ATF states on its website.<\/p>\n
ATF claims SRT\u2019s two-week training course is an \u201cintensive program,\u201d during which SRT candidates \u201clearn specialized skills such as marksmanship, manipulation of numerous weapon systems, individual and team tactical movement, tactical medicine, chemical agent deployment, use of less-lethal weapon systems, armored vehicle operations, surveillance, helicopter operations and operational planning. SRTs also participate in rigorous activities such as defensive tactics, breaching, rappelling, fast-roping, rural patrolling and operations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anyone with even a modicum of tactical knowledge must scoff at these claims. There is no way any federal law enforcement agency can sufficiently teach its agents all of these techniques and bring them to acceptable skill levels in just two weeks. Tactical movement alone takes far more time to train and master, and what ATF calls \u201cmarksmanship\u201d is nothing much beyond their standard qualification.<\/p>\n
ATF public relations officials posted a chilling interview on their website of Gerry Arena, an<\/p>\n
SRT team commander. Arena touts his team\u2019s skills and stresses the dangerous nature of the criminals they encounter, but then he says the scary part out loud.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we are a fully functioning tactical unit our team stays intact. We will never ever incorporate a member from an outside agency into our stack,\u201d Arena said.<\/p>\n
It is clear ATF doesn\u2019t understand how truly bad their SRT teams are. In fact, they think they\u2019re pretty good\u2014fully functioning tactical units. Sadly, the whole world now knows the truth\u2014how poorly ATF\u2019s SRT performs when called upon.<\/p>\n
On March 19, members of ATF\u2019s Region 3 SRT, which is headquartered in Dallas, conducted an early morning raid of Bryan Malinowski\u2019s home in West Little Rock, Arkansas. A gunfight ensued, caused by ATF\u2019s poor choice of raid tactics. An ATF agent who has never been identified by name shot Malinowski in the head with his carbine. Malinowski, a 53-year-old airport executive with no prior criminal history, died of his wounds two days later. His family insists Malinowski didn\u2019t know he was trading gunfire with federal agents. Instead, they say he thought he was defending himself and his wife from armed home invaders.<\/p>\n
Not one member of ATF\u2019s SRT wore a body cam during the search warrant execution, which is contrary to ATF\u2019s policy. To date, no one from ATF has made any statement about Malinowski\u2019s killing, other than to say he fired first.=<\/p>\n
This is the latest example of the poor leadership of ATF\u2019s teams. Real leadership is accountable. Real leaders take the blame when mistakes are made. And to be clear, ATF made a lot of mistakes that led to Malinowski\u2019s killing, yet the team leaders remain mum. Sara Abel, public information officer for ATF\u2019s Dallas Field Division did not return calls seeking comment about the fatal raid.<\/p>\nATF\u2019s Tactical Management Branch has divided the United States into five regions for SRT coverage. (Screenshot courtesy SAF Investigative Journalism Project)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOperators?<\/strong><\/p>\nThere is a lack of consensus even among the special operations community about who deserves the title \u2019Operator.\u201d Some say only members of our Tier One units Delta and DEVGRU deserve the title, but this would leave out MARSOC Raiders, the majority of Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, Air Force special operators and a whole bunch of Rangers.<\/p>\n
Most special operators don\u2019t care too much about the title. Besides, operator is a mindset, it\u2019s not a tab or a badge, but one thing is crystal clear: ATF SRT members are not operators. Their use of the term is an insult. They\u2019re hardly even law enforcement. They are thugs with guns\u2014poseurs in pricey Crye MultiCam paid for by your taxpayer dollars. They are hammers who view every law-abiding gun owner as a nail.<\/p>\n
Given their poor training and complete lack of professional leadership, it is only a matter of time before an SRT member kills another innocent American citizen in their home.<\/p>\n
Article courtesy of the Second Amendment Foundation\u2019s Investigative Journalism Project. This project wouldn\u2019t be possible without the support of gun owners. Click\u00a0<\/em>here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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