U.S. EYES UNIT TO FOIL TERRORISTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470024-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: December 5, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470024-3
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WASHINGTON POST
N 1e 5 December 1985
'U.S. Eyes
Unit to Foil
Terrorists
Military Team Based
In Europe Could
Speed Response
By George C. Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writer
The Reagan administration is
Considering permanently basing an
advance military team in Europe to
speed the deployment of counter-
terrorist units such as the Army's
Delta Force, which has had difficul-
ties getting to the Mediterranean
region in time for effective action
against hijacked airliners, U.S. of-
ficials said yesterday.
$pecia sts on the European team
wow aft up communication gath-
er current intelligence, rush detec-
t on and eavesdropping equipment
to the scene and coordinate govern-
mentaa orts during a terrorist in-
pident.
The team, which could be as
small as one man and would not en-
gage in combat, would swing into
action while a larger assault force
was flying toward the trouble spot,
administration officials said.
The proposal is one of several
Measures keflecting both a stepped-
up U.S. antiterrorist effort in a year
of bloody air and sea piracy inci-
dents, and concern that U.S. forces
are tenable-to react quickly enough,
even-when'the difficult decision has
been made- to counterpunch mili-
tarily.
For example, the Army and Air
Force have undertaken a secret
$650 million program to buy heli-
copters designed to carry special-
ized' assault units into action. The
Oeopters would be equipped to
navigate by heat emitted from ob-
jects on the ground-all part of the
effort to gain surprise in counter-
terrorist aperstionah sources said.
A new U.S. willingness, author-
ized by the White house, to take
military action against terrorists
has meant that the North Carolina-
based Delta Force has been dis-
patched several times this year in
the wake of hijackings.
Interagency discussions about es-
tablishing a forward post in Europe
for counterterrorist action pre-
ceded the hijacking Nov. 24 of an
Egyptian airliner. But the matter
has been made more urgent by the
deaths of 60 people when Egyptian
commandos stormed the plane and
by the inability of the Delta to reach
the scene because Maltese author-
ities refused to let the troops land in
a military transport.
The idea of a forward base also
gained momentum from earlier
problems in getting the assault
force to the Mediterranean quickly,
with the hijackings of the Italian
cruise ship Achillo Lauro in October
and a TWA 727 in June cited as
cases in point.
The Central Intelligence Agency,
Defense Department, State Depart-
ment and the Whits House have
been involved in the discussions.
The country where the advance
team would be based has not been
chosen, officials said, but Italy and
West Germany are prime candi-
dates, although an aircraft carrier
in the Mediterranean is also an out-
side possibility.
The permanent unit should be
small, officials said, and considered
an advance, noncombat element of
Delta Force, which is based at Fort
Bragg, N.C. The joint Chiefs of
Staff, according to administration
officials, was initially wary of split-
ting off part of the military Special
Forces to man an overseas office,
but became more receptive because
of recent difficulties in deploying
the Delta force to hotspots 3,000
miles away.
The delays also have stirred con-
cern in Congress. A House Armed
Services subcommittee, for exam-
ple, yesterday held a closed hearing
on the kinds of aircraft and helicop-
ters needed for so-called "special
operations."
The Army, as part of a broad up-
grading of antiterrorist capability,
plans to spend about $500 million
through 1991 on MH60X Black-
hawk and CH47 helicopters, which
are based in Fort Campbell, Ky.,
and are called Task Force 160 Avi-
ation Element.
The Air Force has earmarked
$50 million to buy 10 HH53H Pave-
low helicopters equipped with
night-vision devices, sources said.
The Air Force would transport Del-
ta troopers when more range was
needed than the Army could pro-
vide. The special unit is based at
Hurlburt Field, Fla.
The specialized helicopters, when
folded up, can be flown to an over-
seas base inside a C5 transport.
From there the helicopters can fly
to the trouble spot.
The Delta team, which Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak report-
edly requested to assist in the most
recent hijacking, never got beyond
Sigonella, Sicily, administration of-
ficials said, because of delays in ob-
taining landing permission from the
Maltese government. During the
Oct. 7 hijacking of the Achille
Lauro, Delta Force flew from Fort
Bragg to the Marine helicopter ship
Guam, but never saw action,
sources said.
The Delta force was dispatched
toward Algiers when the TWA 727
was hijacked on June 14, but again
saw no action.
Administration officials said Del-
ta cannot brag about its successes
publicly because its operations are
considered highly secret. But they
said a small Delta team on July 31,
1984, provided valuable assistance
to a 12-man Venezuelan commando
unit, which assaulted a hijacked
Venezuelan DC9 jet on the Carib-
bean island of Curacao. The two hi-
jackers were killed and the passen-
gers and crew safely rescued.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470024-3