The Strategy Behind the Osama bin Laden Raid

Vice Adm. William McRaven, commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, planned the bin Laden raid. Fortunately, he wrote the book on such missions. In 1995, the former SEAL team commander published Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare, an analysis of the eight greatest raids in modern military history. In it, he explores the principles that enabled the missions to succeed. So, how does the admiral's raid stack up against his own criteria?

1. Purpose: Know Why You're Going

McRaven says that each member of a special-operations team must understand the mission and believe in its success. "The mission statement should be crafted to ensure that in the heat of battle, no matter what else happens, the individual soldier understands the primary objective," he writes. The bin Laden mission could not have been clearer: Take him, dead or alive. When their helicopter crashed inside the compound, the SEALs in it simply disembarked and swept the building to find their prey and finish the job.

2. Repetition: There is No Such Thing as too much Practice

SEALs trained in a mockup of the compound; McRaven maintains that such training should be mandatory if time allows, even though the SEALs are well-honed masters of clearing rooms by force. Team 6 members on the bin Laden raid did not need a refresher course on small-unit tactics, but they studied every room, entryway and blind spot of the compound, and got used to working with their teammates. "The plan that sounded simple on paper must be put to the test," McRaven says of his case studies. "Invariably, when a certain aspect of an operation was not rehearsed, it failed during the actual mission."

3. Speed: Delay Favors the Defense

"Most special operations involve direct and, in most cases, immediate contact with the enemy," McRaven says. Seven of his eight case studies took less than half an hour to complete?and the majority of the violence occurred within the first 5 minutes. The bin Laden raid took about 40 minutes, fitting this profile. The compound's defenders were overmatched, but the real risk was the potential reaction of the Pakistanis. The mission was also crafted to deny them time to respond.

4. Surprise: Staying Ahead When They Know You're Coming

Of all the principles of a spec-ops mission, McRaven says this one is the most exaggerated. "Many tacticians consider the principle of surprise to be the most important factor," he writes. "What good would it do to surprise the enemy, only to be ill-equipped to fight?" Even when an enemy is surprised, special-operations raids are conducted against fortified positions and forces that are expecting trouble: "[It's] like two boxers in a ring; each is prepared to parry the other fighter's punches, but even with preparation, punches are landed." During the bin Laden takedown, Pakistani radar operators also had to be caught unaware. The method: helicopters modified to fly undetected.

5. Simplicity: A Delicate Balance

"If a plan is complex, it will require extraordinary security, and an overabundance of security hinders effective preparation," McRaven writes. The use of stealthy helicopters complicated the mission. There was likely no way for McRaven to fully vet the modded helicopters and keep them a secret. It's not known how much time the pilots had to adapt to the new ride, but we know McRaven identified the risk and mitigated it by assigning enough helicopters to the mission. When one crashed, the hunt for bin Laden still proceeded.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/the-strategy-behind-the-osama-bin-laden-raid?src=rss

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