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A declassified document provides background information about the Intelligence Support Activity (ISA ), a little known intelligence gathering unit that collects tactical intel for Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and other Special Operations units. Things became more complicated though, as the airplane took on more terrorists and weapons on one of its hops to Beirut, and Algerian authorities refused Delta permission to mount a rescue on their soil. Working alongside SEASPRAY, a specialized aviation unit that would later form a part of Delta Force, the ISA would conduct aerial SIGINT operations to assist the Salvadoran Army against guerrillas. US Army intelligence defines HUMINT as including: The sources of this information can come from enemy combatants, including regular armed forces, and civilian sources. This is a potentially significant compromise. the Cantor lamented in earnest. Understanding all the following is necessary for successful infiltration: (Source). ISA focuses on gathering human intelligence based on contact with field agents, and signals intelligence (intercepted communications) to support Delta Force and DEVGRU operations. Direct action (DA) is a term used in the context of military special operations for small-scale raids, ambushes, sabotage or similar actions. 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'). Prior to Saddams capture, over 40 members of his family were captured and interrogated to determine his whereabouts with little success. And now somebody SOMEBODY knows that somebody is recording all the cars turning down that specific road. During Anaconda, ISA intelligence helped save both the 10th Mountain Division and 101st Airborne Division at Takur Ghar. Two task forces of JSOC took part in the search and rescue operations, Delta Force and a detachment of the ISA. As previously mentioned, its members cross train with the CIA, Americas most comprehensive civilian intelligence agency. Sound Like You? COL Nightingale is a retired Army Colonel who served two tours in Vietnam with Airborne and Ranger (American and Vietnamese) units. The Cantor, busy writing, asked me how it went. This was the birth of the Field Operations Group (FOG)-later ISA/Secret Army of Northern Virginia. Intelligence picked up reports that the two, along with other Sudanese officials were the targets of Libyan-sponsored terrorist assassinations. The fleet was comprised of 15 different types of aircraft for a combined total of 40 aircraft, all decked out with SIGINT interception technology. US News & World Report describes Torn Victor as 'trained as high-risk intelligence gatherers,' a title fitting the ISA. No unit is quite as secretive as the Intelligence Support Activity. The emerging problems our Nation faced in the early 1980s with terrorism, airplane hijacking, and hostage taking, created considerable challenges for the government (USG) to resolve. Most officials disliked the unit's head, Jerry King, and thus, JSOC did not send the unit in. 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. (Source). They acquainted themselves with the layout and landmarks of the city for future reference. The selection process for the ISA prioritizes both a physical skill for field operations and a skill for intelligence operations. (Source). (Source) Gray Fox operators and intelligence specialists operated alongside other special operations units, including Delta Force and DEVGRU, as well as other components of the US Army. 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. The terrain was extremely rugged, the enemy was far more entrenched than anticipated, and Murphys Law was in full effect. Gray Fox was formed in 1980 in response to the infamous failed rescue attempt of American hostages under Operation Eagle Claw in the Tehran embassy. 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. It was a body of men and women first sent to Japan to study Ninjitzu, then on to Chinas Shao Lin Temple to study Kung Fu, then finally to Iran to study the ways of the Immortals under the former King of the Persian Empire, Xerxes the Great. But the poor Cantor had to suffer through the mandarin menace sure enough. The ISAs HUMINT collectors gather information from human sources via coercion and interrogation depending on the asset. 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. Along with reviewing the security and organization again, ISA was also tasked with formulating plans for reprisals against the Syrians who had shot down two US fighters. He commanded airborne battalions in both the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment and the 82nd Airborne Division. The third known squadron is the Mission Support Squadron. The web portal tool will maintain a repository of all INSCOM and non -INSCOM Primarily acting as enablers for JSOC special mission units. That close-holding of his cards was typical of him. He would be given instructions and equipment along the way, and was required to perform certain assignments, for example, setting up a SATCOM system. Additionally, ISA recruits from other branches of the US military and potentially elsewhere in the intelligence community. Though its freelance tendencies were curbed, the ISA continued to operate under different guises through the ill-starred U.S. involvement in Somalia in 1992 and was reportedly active in the hunt for Bosnian Serbs suspected of war crimes. Talk about close target recce. Thats pretty frickin ballsy. Two people with a lockpick kit and a camera. FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii -- Leaders from the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) G-6/Ground Intelligence Support Activity (GISA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACoE) Honolulu . Both the CSA and the Director understood that each offered something the other did not and that together, a much better response capability could be generateda point that POTUS emphasized through the National Security Council to both. Task Force Mandarin [better known as Task Force Orange or the Intelligence Support Activity (ISA)] was a support organization formed to provide signal intercept and intelligence gathering capabilities to Tier One organizations. Centra Spike agents operated all around Colombia, as well as neighbouring countries where the cartels influence extended. The United States Army Intelligence Support Activity ( USAISA ), frequently shortened to Intelligence Support Activity or ISA, and nicknamed The Activity is a United States Army Special Operations unit originally subordinated to the US Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM). The rapidly deteriorating situation in the country prompted the United States to create a small Special Forces unit with the purpose of surveying the US embassy. Traditions (religious, political, societal). The Untold Story of Women in Special Operations, We Are Abandoning the Women of the Special Forces, SOAA Calls for Support of our Afghan Allies in The Hill, SOAA Supports Last Out: Elegy of a Green Beret. People know ISA mostly for its involvement in Operation Anaconda. A team of mandarins was tasked with blocking traffic in the same fashion on the south side of the ambush site, then with following the assault force north to provide rearguard to the convoy. The support provided can come in a range of different forms. The manhunt was over. Unfortunately, the police were either heavily corrupted or unwilling to arrest Escobar, and the intelligence went to waste. Rather than disbanding the unit, it was expanded. 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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. Feeling the working end of my pick with my fingers I could tell that it was destroyed; the neck had a corkscrew twist in it and it was staved to shit. The CIA would talk directly to the warlords while the ISA provided SIGINT support and ground security for them. The ISA agent was ordered to stop the recording, an order to which he complied. A key driver for the meeting was the recognition that quality operational intelligence was virtually non-existent. Read Next: Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 operators on the loose? (Source). ISA recommended covert deployment of its operatives to both airports to secure landing zones and infiltration routes. After the rescue attempt, then CSA Shy Meyer, convened a small group of people within Army DCSOPS to address future SOF/CT structure in the aftermath of the failure, and while still under a POTUS mandate, to be prepared to conduct an In-Extremis rescue within 10 days. This has been more visible in their operations in Afghanistan, Operation Winter Harvest and Operation Queens Hunter. That night, the mandarin and I stashed our car and cut through an orchard whose northwest corner gave way to the bollards and the chain barricade. During the 1990's the unit was known as Capacity Gear. "Currently, ISA is believed to be under control of JSOC, and published accounts have it organized into administration, training, SIGINT, HUMINT and direct action elements. US Navy SEALs | The amount of accurate and up-to-date information about the ISA is very small, due to the extremely high secrecy surrounding the unit, but over the years, various books and reports have gleamed some information about the ISA. 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. Afghanistan: The Fox and The Anaconda. However, our personal favorite is a toss-up between Cemetery Wind and Gray Fox. The CIA was leading extraordinary rendition operations in Somalia in conjunction with the ISA and the help of local warlords. Typically the ISA pulls from the Green Berets due to their prior special operations experience, language skills, and autonomy. Escobar was shot as he was trying to escape from the roof of his house. Lets just settle on Gray Fox for now, as these operators fill in the gray area between Title 50 intelligence gathering and Title 10 unconventional warfare operations. The Chiefs planning element determined that DOD/Army needed to create a Joint Army-CIA force that would both develop quality intelligence abroad, but also provide site support for direct action operations. and direct action combat. According to The Secret War by William M. Arkin, published in the Los Angeles Times on October 27, 2002, "The Army created a highly compartmentalized organization that could collect clandestine intelligence independent of the rest of the U.S. intelligence community and follow through with covert military action. Killer Elite The specialists, nicknamed 'knob turners' operated sophisticated electronic eavesdropping equipment located in the back cabin of specially-outfitted Seaspray Beechcraft 100 airplanes. (Source) At the time, the Salvadoran Army was facing attacks from leftist groups and more lethal right-wing death squads. The unit would be immediately deployed to any country where a terrorist act against the United States had taken place, and would start providing critical intelligence, as well as setting up landing zones and infiltration routes for the counter-terrorist force. "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. Nonetheless, it is known that these operators have shown their indispensable worth to both the intelligence and SOF communities in matters of national security, supporting Delta and SEAL Team Six operations by hitting the ground first to prep the environment: gathering actionable intelligence, pathfinding, and performing a broad range of operational support. Since incorporating under JSOC in 2003, Gray Fox has expanded into direct action and hostage rescue, showing that they may be the most diversely equipped, trained and adaptable Special Missions Unit in the SOF community. (Source). 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 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. These are primarily preparation intelligence and tactical/ strategic intelligence for active operations. As with both the establishment of JSOC, TF160/SOAR and Ranger SOF, the task was not easy. When Escobar surrendered in 1991, Centra Spike was pulled out, only to return a year later, when Escobar escaped from his comfortable prison. However, his several interventions and temporary blockage of many initiatives, showed that his primary intent was to arrest the development and contain the capability.