Fred
25 January 2000, 13:11
Navy's Seals Are Training Anti-Narcotics Commandos
DEA also participates in exercises to eliminate drugs
By Steve Salisbury, Jane's Intelligence Review
CALI, Colombia -- U.S. Navy Seals and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have recently broken new ground in Colombia:
The Seals, by training a Colombian army special anti-narcotics unit.
The DEA, by giving its first investigation seminar to the Colombian army.
In both cases, Jane's Intelligence Review was present for an exclusive look.
Last fall between Oct. 9 and Nov. 6, in Colombia's southwestern city of Cali and surrounding area, eight Seals of Foxtrot Platoon, SEAL Team 4 (based in Norfolk, Va.) trained some 60 commandos who form the muscle of the Colombian Amy's 80-some "Comando Especial del Ejercito" (CEE) quick-strike rural/urban anti-narcotics unit. This included exercises near areas of guerrilla hostilities.
The CEE, based in Cali since 1995, is not to be confused with the Colombian army's new Counter-Narcotics Battalion, trained reportedly by some 60 to 80 U.S. Army instructors.
The CEE is commanded by a lieutenant colonel who reports directly to armed forces chief Fernando Tapias Stahelin. It has an intelligence and command staff of about 20, and its only U.S. military training until the Seals arrived had been given by the U.S. Army --including Special Forces then based in Panama.
Comprised of a lieutenant and seven NCOs, primary "terms of reference" for the Seals were to teach riverine small-team tactics so that the commandos, who had little experience in boating, could move with specialized know-how against guerrilla-protected drug labs built along jungle streams, in mangrove swamps, and in coastal zones.
The Seals also trained the commandos in insertion and extraction, infiltration, day/night shooting, fire-and-movement, combat first aid and swimming. Their inclusive instructing style of making the Colombians partners in their own training made a good fit with Colombian military sensibilities.
"The Seals are very professional and dedicated people. To see them so dedicated, it motivates us," said Capt. Arnulfo Traslavina, commander of E Company, 1st Battalion, Special Forces -- the CEE's armed wing.
A measure of the Seals commitment was that they trained commandos along the Cauca River, just a few miles from where government and guerrilla forces have clashed. Given logistical limitations and other circumstances, the CEE says it was the most practical, safest place among limited options for boat training.
Even so, commandos acknowledge that one had to be careful there, for guerrillas sometimes pass through and could spring ambushes. The Seals rules of lethal engagement were only for self-defense, and they carried their standard issue Colt M-4 automatic rifles and SIGARMSP-226 9 mm pistols.
The Seals call the CEE an outstanding unit with high marksmanship skills and motivation, but say it is limited by a lack of resources. According to one U.S. military source, unless the commandos get boats, equipment, and improve their swimming, they will not be able to fully exploit their riverine training.
In a further step to broaden the fight against illegal drugs, the DEA held its first seminar of analytical investigation for the Colombian army two months ago. A reason, according to a conference participant, is "because the army goes where the guerrillas are and can find evidence linking them to drug-trafficking."
The seminar took place at the army's 3rd Brigade in Cali -- Colombia's cocaine capital, according to many -- Nov. 15-19. It focused on the basics of analysis and intelligence, and was a get-to-know-each-other opportunity.
A half-dozen instructors from the DEA's International Academy at Quantico, Va., and a Bogota-based DEA officer introduced the DEA's mission to some three dozen Colombian Army officers and NCOs.
Lessons included sources of information and methods for its collection; evaluation and development of inferences; techniques of multiple association; analysis of telephone intercepts; financial investigation; document exploitation; flow charts and logic application.
Colombian pupils and American instructors of both the SEAL training and DEA seminar hail the results as positive. With a three-year $1.3 billion aid package for Colombia being contemplated by the U.S. Congress, they plan more instruction this year.
Given the CEE's increased urban operations, possible future training by Seals discussed for the CEE includes urban reconnaissance and surveillance, demolition, breaching, urban sniping, close-quarters fighting, and helicopter rappelling.
The expanded participation of the Seals and DEA is another example of how much U.S.-Colombian military relations have warmed since a few years ago, when Washington maintained a distance from the Colombian military because of human rights questions.
· Reprinted with permission from Jane's Intelligence Review
DEA also participates in exercises to eliminate drugs
By Steve Salisbury, Jane's Intelligence Review
CALI, Colombia -- U.S. Navy Seals and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have recently broken new ground in Colombia:
The Seals, by training a Colombian army special anti-narcotics unit.
The DEA, by giving its first investigation seminar to the Colombian army.
In both cases, Jane's Intelligence Review was present for an exclusive look.
Last fall between Oct. 9 and Nov. 6, in Colombia's southwestern city of Cali and surrounding area, eight Seals of Foxtrot Platoon, SEAL Team 4 (based in Norfolk, Va.) trained some 60 commandos who form the muscle of the Colombian Amy's 80-some "Comando Especial del Ejercito" (CEE) quick-strike rural/urban anti-narcotics unit. This included exercises near areas of guerrilla hostilities.
The CEE, based in Cali since 1995, is not to be confused with the Colombian army's new Counter-Narcotics Battalion, trained reportedly by some 60 to 80 U.S. Army instructors.
The CEE is commanded by a lieutenant colonel who reports directly to armed forces chief Fernando Tapias Stahelin. It has an intelligence and command staff of about 20, and its only U.S. military training until the Seals arrived had been given by the U.S. Army --including Special Forces then based in Panama.
Comprised of a lieutenant and seven NCOs, primary "terms of reference" for the Seals were to teach riverine small-team tactics so that the commandos, who had little experience in boating, could move with specialized know-how against guerrilla-protected drug labs built along jungle streams, in mangrove swamps, and in coastal zones.
The Seals also trained the commandos in insertion and extraction, infiltration, day/night shooting, fire-and-movement, combat first aid and swimming. Their inclusive instructing style of making the Colombians partners in their own training made a good fit with Colombian military sensibilities.
"The Seals are very professional and dedicated people. To see them so dedicated, it motivates us," said Capt. Arnulfo Traslavina, commander of E Company, 1st Battalion, Special Forces -- the CEE's armed wing.
A measure of the Seals commitment was that they trained commandos along the Cauca River, just a few miles from where government and guerrilla forces have clashed. Given logistical limitations and other circumstances, the CEE says it was the most practical, safest place among limited options for boat training.
Even so, commandos acknowledge that one had to be careful there, for guerrillas sometimes pass through and could spring ambushes. The Seals rules of lethal engagement were only for self-defense, and they carried their standard issue Colt M-4 automatic rifles and SIGARMSP-226 9 mm pistols.
The Seals call the CEE an outstanding unit with high marksmanship skills and motivation, but say it is limited by a lack of resources. According to one U.S. military source, unless the commandos get boats, equipment, and improve their swimming, they will not be able to fully exploit their riverine training.
In a further step to broaden the fight against illegal drugs, the DEA held its first seminar of analytical investigation for the Colombian army two months ago. A reason, according to a conference participant, is "because the army goes where the guerrillas are and can find evidence linking them to drug-trafficking."
The seminar took place at the army's 3rd Brigade in Cali -- Colombia's cocaine capital, according to many -- Nov. 15-19. It focused on the basics of analysis and intelligence, and was a get-to-know-each-other opportunity.
A half-dozen instructors from the DEA's International Academy at Quantico, Va., and a Bogota-based DEA officer introduced the DEA's mission to some three dozen Colombian Army officers and NCOs.
Lessons included sources of information and methods for its collection; evaluation and development of inferences; techniques of multiple association; analysis of telephone intercepts; financial investigation; document exploitation; flow charts and logic application.
Colombian pupils and American instructors of both the SEAL training and DEA seminar hail the results as positive. With a three-year $1.3 billion aid package for Colombia being contemplated by the U.S. Congress, they plan more instruction this year.
Given the CEE's increased urban operations, possible future training by Seals discussed for the CEE includes urban reconnaissance and surveillance, demolition, breaching, urban sniping, close-quarters fighting, and helicopter rappelling.
The expanded participation of the Seals and DEA is another example of how much U.S.-Colombian military relations have warmed since a few years ago, when Washington maintained a distance from the Colombian military because of human rights questions.
· Reprinted with permission from Jane's Intelligence Review