List of operations conducted by SEAL Team Six

Two Black Hawks carried two SEAL platoons to the two-story, Georgian-style building overlooking Grenada's capital city where Scoon lived and worked. Twenty-two SEALs fast-roped to the ground while under heavy enemy fire. The opposing fire damaged one of the helicopters and seriously wounded an Army flight commander. The stricken Black Hawk flew out to Navy ships offshore, also carrying away the SEAL's commanding officer and their portable satellite radio. Meanwhile, the assault team approached from the back of the mansion.[3] The SEALs found Scoon and 10 other civilians hiding in the basement.[6] The SEALs then continued to clear the rest of the house and began to set up a defensive perimeter to ensure security.[2] Soon the mansion started to take fire from enemy soldiers armed with AK-47s and RPGs. As the incoming fire started to increase, Scoon and his party were moved to a safer location in the house. After the incoming fire had decreased, three men wearing Cuban-made uniforms approached the mansion, all of them carrying AK-47s. The SEALs shouted for the three men to stop where they were. When the three men heard the yells, they raised their weapons. The SEALs opened fire on the trio and killed them almost instantly.[2] The SEALs suspected the men were Cubans, but the post-invasion evidence strongly indicates they were Grenadians.[5]

Soon afterward, two BTR-60s rolled up to the mansion's gates. One of the BTRs at the mansion's front gate opened fire. Just as the SEALs were about to fire a M-72 LAW anti-tank rocket, the BTR backed off and left with the other BTR.[2] The vehicles were chased off by two protective AC-130s.[5] The only communications the team had been through limited-range MX-360 radios. The team used these hand-held radios to communicate with a SEAL command post on the island to call in airstrikes. As the radios' batteries started to fade, communications with the SEAL command post became weak. Once all the radios had died, when the SEALs urgently needed air support, they used a regular house phone to call JSOC,[2] which was able to get an AC-130H Spectre gunship to hold station over the SEALs' position to provide air support.

When morning came, Marines from Company G of Battalion Landing Team 2/8 arrived to relieve the SEALs. The Governor General and his wife were evacuated to the USS Guam, the invasion force flagship, by Marine helicopter.[2]

A Soviet-made BTR-60PB armored personnel carrier seized by U.S. forces during Operation Urgent Fury

While Scoon was being secured, 12 other operators from SEAL Team Six, under the command of Lt. Donald “Kim” Erskine, flew on to the radio station in a lone Black Hawk helicopter.[7] The helicopter took small-arms fire on the insertion. Once the team landed, it quickly overran the radio station compound and took enemy prisoners. The SEALs were told to hold the station until Governor Scoon and a broadcast team could be brought in.[2] After the team took control of the compound, it was not able to make radio contact with the SEAL command post. The SEALs set up a defensive perimeter while they continued to try to make radio contact. As this was happening, a truck with armed Grenadian soldiers arrived at the station. The SEALs ordered the soldiers to drop the weapons. After a brief tense standoff, the soldiers opened fire, but they were quickly neutralized. All the soldiers were killed or wounded by the SEALs.

The SEALs continued trying to make radio contact. Then a BTR-60 and three trucks, carrying a dozen soldiers each, were spotted coming towards the station.[7] The soldiers flanked the building and the BTR covered the front entrance with its 14.5 mm KPV heavy machine gun. The incoming fire on the SEALs' position was becoming devastatingly heavy, and they were running out of ammunition. The SEALs were engaged with a numerically superior enemy force. The team realized that their only option was to change their original plan of holding the radio station, and instead disable the radio transmitter, then extract towards the water. They followed a pre-planned escape route out behind the station and across a broad meadow that led to a path that cut between cliffs and a beach.[7] The meadow was exposed to Grenadian fire. The team leapfrogged across the exposed ground and took heavy fire suffering several wounded. Finally reaching the end of the field, cut through a chain-link fence, ran into dense brush, and followed the path to the beach. The Grenadians were still in pursuit, so the SEALs waded into the water and began swimming parallel to the shore until they found cliff ledges in which to hide/[7] Once the Grenadians had given up the search they swam out to sea. They were in the water for nearly six hours until a rescue plane spotted them and vectored the USS Caron, a destroyer, to pick them up.[7] The officer in charge, Erskine, was wounded in the arm during the operation and was awarded the Purple Heart and Silver Star for heroism and leadership in commanding the assault element. Three other SEAL Team SIX members were wounded during the operation.

SEAL Team Six during 2002 assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai

In Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), U.S. Special Operations forces played a central role in the fighting. It was also here they began to specialize in counter-terrorist tactics and information.[12]

During the coalition invasion of Afghanistan a squadron from DEVGRU were part of Task Force Sword (later renamed Task Force 11 in January 2002), which was established in early October 2001. it was a black SOF unit under direct command of JSOC. This was a so-called hunter-killer force whose primary objective was of capturing or killing senior leadership and HVT within both al-Qaeda and the Taliban. As part of Task Force Bowie, SEALS from DEVGRU were part of the AFOs – a 45-man reconnaissance unit made up of a Delta Force recce specialists augmented by selected SEALs from DEVGRU and supported by ISA's technical experts. The AFOs had been raised to support TF Sword and were tasked with intelligence preparation of the battlefield, working closely with the CIA and reported directly to TF Sword. AFO conducted covert reconnaissance – sending small 2 or 3 man teams into al-Qaeda 'Backyard' along the border with Pakistan, the AFO operators would deploy observation posts to watch and report enemy movements and numbers as well as environmental reconnaissance; much of the work was done on foot or ATVs.[13]

On February 28, 2002, on the eve of the Operation Anaconda, three AFO teams were infiltrated into the Shahikot Valley, one of them (known as Mako 31) was composed of three SEALs from DEVGRUs Recce Squadron, a USAF Combat controller and a US Navy EOD operator. They infiltrated the area on foot via the southern edge of the valley to set up an observation post on a terrain feature known as 'The Finger.' All three teams were tasked with confirming enemy strengths and dispositions including antiaircraft emplacements, ensuring the designated Rakkasan HLZs were clear of obstructions and providing terminal guidance for air support both prior to and during the insertion of conventional forces.[14] Near H-Hour on March 1, 2002, Mako 31 found a group of foreign fighters had an established positioned and were manning a DShK HMG on the peak where they planned to set up an observation post. If the DShK was not disabled before then, it could shoot down Chinooks carrying the conventional forces. The SEALs therefore planned to ambush the terrorists in the pre-dawn darkness before the Rakkasans flew into the valley. However, they were spotted by an Uzbek insurgent and a brief firefight ensued, killing 5 out of 7 foreign fighters, as another insurgent firing a PKM, the team broke contact and brought in an AC-130 which destroyed the enemy encampment with 105 mm rounds.[14] During the crucial Battle of Takur Ghar part of Operation Anaconda a small team of DEVGRU assigned to an AFO task force was tasked with establishing observation positions (OPs) on the high ground above the proposed landing zones of U.S. conventional forces. It was one of the most violent battles of Operation Anaconda. In the early hours of March 4, 2002 a MH-47E Chinook helicopter piloted by the U.S. Army's 160th SOAR "Nightstalkers" was carrying Mako 21 and Mako 30 teams mostly made up of SEALs from DEVGRU. The original plan was that MAKO 21 would to link up with AFO team Juliet at the northern end of the valley, resupply it and then establish a hide site/observation post on the eastern ridge above Task Force Rakkasan's blocking position; whilst MAKO 30 planned to establish an observation point on the peak of Takur Ghar, which commanded a view of the Shahi-Kot valley. Mako 30 would be inserted at a point 4,300 feet (1,300 m) east of the peak, but circumstances led the SEALs to choose the summit of Takur Ghar itself as the insertion point. As the helicopter was nearing its landing zone both the pilots and the men in the back observed fresh tracks in the snow, goatskins, and other signs of recent human activity. As the pilots and team discussed a mission abort, an RPG struck the side of the aircraft, wounding one crewman as machine-gun bullets ripped through the fuselage, cutting hydraulic and oil lines. Fluid spewed about the ramp area of the helicopter. As the pilot struggled to get the helicopter away Neil C. Roberts, a DEVGRU SEAL in the ramp area of the aircraft, was hit and slipped on the oil as the helicopter took off. He fell approximately 5 to 10 feet (1.5 to 3.0 m) to the snowy ground below. Roberts immediately engaged enemy forces with his weapons including an Mk.46 Mod 0 Light Machine Gun, SIG Sauer P226 Mk.25 Mod 0 9 mm semi-automatic pistol and grenades. He survived at least 30 minutes before he was shot and killed at close range.[15] Mako 30 was inserted in an attempt to recover Roberts, the ran into a bunker housing 3 al-Qaeda fighters and killed them, they were engaged in a 20-minute firefight and suffered several wounded, forcing them to break contact and call for a QRF. USAF Technical Sergeant John Chapman, a Combat Controller with the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, was mistakenly left behind by the SEALs. Chapman fought alone, killing enemy fighters with scrounged weapons and in hand-to-hand combat. He was finally killed while providing covering fire to distract Taliban fighters from an approaching rescue helicopter. For his actions, Chapman earned the Medal of Honor. On 17 March 2002, in the final days of Operation Anaconda, operators from DEVGRU (commanded by the SEAL who led the Mako 30 mission on Takur Ghar), with an attached British SBS operator, intercepted a convoy of al-Qaeda fighters traveling in 3 SUVs via 3 MH-47E Chinooks, with a mixed force of U.S. Army Rangers traveling in MH-60K Blackhawk helicopters as back up. After an ensuing firefight, 16 al-Qaeda fighters were killed and 2 seriously wounded were captured.[16][17]

On September 5, 2002, DEVGRU operators protected President Hamid Karzai during an assassination attempt in Kandahar. Allegedly one of their members was wounded[18]

In 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested in a joint CIA and ISI operation in Pakistan and had to be flown out to a US Black site prison. Companies from the US Army Rangers and 82nd Airborne Division secured an improvised desert strip in a dry river bed near the Pakistani border, an MC-130H Combat Talon II plane landed and lowered its ramp. SEALs from DEVGRU appeared in Desert Patrol Vehicles carrying the detainee arrived and drove up the ramp into the back of the plane, which then taxied and lifted off.[19]

In September 2005, a British security contractor was kidnapped by Taliban insurgents in Farah Province, JSOC managed to locate the hostage and insurgents in a mountainous region of Bala Buluk. A DEVGRU team arrived in an early morning raid, but the Taliban murdered the hostage.[20]

In July 2006, a pair of MH-47Es from 160th SOAR attempted to insert a combined strike element of DEVGRU, Rangers and Afghan commandos in Helmand Province so it could attack a target compound. With some troops on the ground, a large insurgent force ambushed them, both helicopters were struck by small arms fire, one MH-47E pilot put his aircraft directly in the line of fire protecting the other MH-47E whose assault team it was carrying was still disembarking. Inevitably the MH-47E was hit by an RPG which caused it to crash-land, the skill of the Nightstalker pilots saved the operators and the aircrew, no one was seriously wounded in the crash. The Ranger commander and an attached Australian Commando organised an all-round defence while the other MH-47E held back the advancing insurgents until its miniguns ran out of ammunition, an AC-130 Spectre joined the battle and kept the down crew and passengers safe until a British Immediate Response Team helicopter successfully recovered them, the AC-130 then destroyed the MH-47E wreck – denying it to the Taliban.[21]

In 2007, a CIA source reported seeing Bin Laden in Tora Bora, a significant proportion of the ISR assets available in the theatre converged on the area, the initial plan based around a small helicopter assault force soon expanded to include U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret ODAs and a Ranger element to provide a cordon for the SEALs. Eventually the operation was launched under the cover of Air Force bombing, but after fruitless searching through the mountains, there was no sign of him.[20]

In August 2008, an American Army Corps of Engineers worker was taken hostage by members of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's militant group known as Hezb-i-Islami. The hostage was taken to and held in the mountains of Wardak Province some 30 miles west of Kabal, two of the Hezb-i-Islami militants were guarding the American hostage. The captors were confident that they were safe out of the U.S. military's reach by the treacherous terrain that would supposedly discourage or deter a rescue attempt. So the guards let down their guard not expecting any rescue operation to be mounted. However, DEVGRU overcame difficulties dealing with the environment after operating in the Afghan region for a long time in other operations following 9/11. So the SEALs of DEVGRU were capable of mounting a rescue operation. The hostage's location was finally pinpointed in October 2008. Approximately two dozen DEVGRU operatives were set down a few miles from the location of where the hostage was held in a hut. The SEALs successfully trekked through treacherous mountainous terrain, quietly approaching the hut that held the hostage following a hike for more than four hours. The two militant guards were at the hut. One was posted in the hut while the other was posted outside. A seven-man assault force stealthily crept forward and infiltrated the hut structure. With sound suppressed weapons, the DEVGRU Seals killed both guards. After setting the American hostage free, the SEALs safely exfiltrated the hostage back to their headquarters by helicopter. Then the liberated hostage was taken to the U.S. embassy in Kabul.[22][23][24][25][26]

DEVGRU conducted a raid in the Central Afghan mountains, south of Kabul on some compounds. As the DEVGRU SEALs landed at their target objective by helicopter. An American drone in the air tracked the movement of eight Taliban fighters who ran out of the compound when the SEALs arrived. The SEALs immediately pursued then fleeing enemy after their helicopter transport landed. The Taliban fighters who fled the compounds were headed for a ridgeline three hundred meters north of the compound. The first group of SEALs were trying to cut off the enemy fighters who fled the compound while another group of SEALs proceeded to clear the compound. The first group of SEALs who pursued the fleeing enemy fighters. When the enemy was spotted, the DEVGRU SEALs opened fire killing three fighters. The rest of the fighters left their dead and continued to race down the backside of the ridge. The American drone pilot notified the SEALs on radio that five Taliban fighters were headed north toward several other compounds. A laser from the drone moved down the backside of the hill showing the SEALs which direction to follow the five fighters. The SEALs advanced cautiously toward the ridge position and found the three dead Taliban fighters lying on the ground. One had a machine gun next to his body while another had a RPG on the ground. From the ridgeline, the SEALs could see the surviving fleeing fighters continue retreating down the backside of the hill. One of the SEALs took the RPG rocket launcher from the deceased enemy fighter and fired it at the fleeing survivors. The rocket landed nearby, and the shrapnel peppered the fighters as they ran. Then an AC-130 gunship providing air support for the SEAL operatives bombarded the Taliban fighters with 20mm cannon fire. The SEALs continued to spend the rest of the night chasing down the remaining fighters. All of them were either mortally wounded or dead. Two SEALs chased a fighter into one of the compounds, while the rest of the SEALs started to clear a field of waist-deep grass. A combat dog that accompanied the SEALs locked onto the scent of a fighter about fifty feet the to the right of the SEALs. The dog attacked the fighter who was hidden in a ditch. There was screaming from the fighter as the dog struggled with the fighter. The SEALs called the dog off and after the dog got safely out of the way. The SEALs threw hand grenades into the ditch where the fighter was waiting to ambush the SEALs. The SEALs then moved up to clear the ditch. One Navy Seal went forward further to investigate and found another dead enemy fighter with an AK-47 and chest rack. After completing their night raid on the Taliban fighters, the DEVGRU SEALs returned back to their base in Jalalabad. The SEALs suffered no casualties while killing more than ten enemy fighters that night.[27]

In June 2009, US Army soldier Bowe Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban, over the 5 years that he was held by the Taliban and Haqqani Network, DEVGRU and Rangers "spun up" operations to rescue him, but each resulted in a "dry hole". One such operation carried out south of Kabul in July 2009 resulted in one SEAL seriously wounded and a combat assault dog killed.[28]

After the mission in an unsuccessful attempt at rescuing Bowe Bergdahl which had a DEVGRU operative wounded and a combat assault dog killed. DEVGRU was prepared for another operation. This operation was to conduct a raid on a couple of compounds in Kunar to eliminate Taliban fighters and then withdraw back to base after completing their objective. So two teams of SEALs were formed to infiltrate through terrain that was thought impassible. Since there was the possibility of enemy lookouts watching out for American forces moving out on the trail away from their base. The army of the U.S. armed forces would patrol together with the two teams of Navy Seals when leaving their base. After the combined army and SEAL patrol traveled some distance, the Navy Seals would break off from the patrol and sneak off unseen while the larger army formation would keep on traveling as bait/distraction for the possible enemy lookouts to spy on. The two teams of SEALs traveled through their infiltration route and finally made it to the target compounds. With the element of surprise, the SEALs with mostly with sound suppressed carbines, a few light machine guns, and some sniper rifles struck with perfect precision and killed all seventeen Taliban fighters that were occupying the compounds with not a single casualty inflicted on the SEALs. The SEALs then successfully conducted SSE at the target compounds. Taliban reinforcements were arriving some distance away in increasing numbers. So the SEALs destroyed all the enemy weapons and ammunition they found with timed explosives. Then the SEALs withdrew safely back to base a long distance while an AC-130 gunship provided air cover bombarding the incoming Taliban reinforcements which may have killed an estimated seven or eight more Taliban fighters. After arriving back at base, the SEALs handed over all the intelligence gathered from their SSE to the army captain.[29]

Linda Norgrove, a British aid worker, and three Afghan colleagues were kidnapped by members of the Taliban in Kunar Province, eastern Afghanistan, on 26 September 2010. The three Afghan aid workers were released on 3 October 2010 while negotiations over Norgrove's release were ongoing.[30] Signal intercepts and aerial ISR assets found Nosgrove in one of two Taliban hillside compounds in Korangal Valley and guarded by at least 6 insurgents. A troop from DEVGRU Silver squadron and two squads of U.S. Army Rangers of the 75th Ranger Regiment conducted a rescue attempt on at 0300 on 8 October 2010. A pair of Boeing MH-47E Chinooks covered by an Lockheed Martin AC-130U Spooky II Gunship and an armed MQ-1B Predator UAV, would have to insert the DEVGRU team directly on top of the target compound, due to the rocky terrain and lack of cover, the Rangers were inserted nearby to establish blocking positions and fire support positions overlooking the compound. The lead MH-47E arrived over the compound and the SEALs quickly fast roped to the ground, snipers from the second helicopter engaged and killed two guards with suppressed HK417, as the SEALs landed in the compound insurgents appeared from several small buildings and were immediately engaged, two were killed by an orbiting AC-130. The SEALs were then fired upon by an insurgent coming out of one of the buildings, fire was returned and the insurgent was killed, unknown to the SEALs the insurgent was dragging the hostage out of the building at the time and she received a gunshot wound to the leg, fearing more insurgents were in an area between two buildings, a SEAL operator threw a fragmentation grenade toward the area. The SEALs cleared the buildings, confirming all six insurgents killed, Nosgrove was found fatally wounded, initially it was thought she had been killed by an insurgent suicide bomb, only later did it emerge that the cause of her death was probably the SEAL grenade. In the after action reviews, the SEAL who threw the grenade did not admit to throwing it, until helmet camera footage was reviewed by the squadron commander, three operators were dismissed from the unit.[31]

Fifteen members of DEVGRU's Gold Squadron "Golden Knights" were among the 38 killed on Saturday, 6 August 2011 in Maidan Wardak province, Afghanistan, when a Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter flown by B Company, 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, was shot down by a Taliban-fired rocket-propelled grenade; the crash wiped out an entire troop. The personnel killed in the helicopter crash are said to have belonged to an "immediate reaction force" that were en route to intercept a group of Taliban who were escaping the area following an operation by United States Army Rangers.[32][33][34] It was the largest single loss of U.S. life since the beginning of the 2001 Afghan War, and is the largest single loss ever suffered by the SEALs.[35][36]

On 22 May 2012, British aid worker Helen Johnston, a Kenyan NGO worker and two Afghan guides were captured and held captive by bandits in Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan. The bandits offered their release in exchange for a ransom that included the release of a notorious drug dealer; with the threat that the kidnappers may sell on the hostages to the Taliban (with whom they had already been in contact), coalition forces worked around the clock to locate them. Signal intercept teams got a fix on the kidnappers location, high altitude UAVs began constant pattern of life surveillance in an effort to establish exactly where the hostages being held, the number of kidnappers and their daily routes as well as approach routes for the SOF rescue teams. It was soon established that the hostages had been split up and were being held in two separate caves in the Koh-e-Laram forest, a joint British-US hostage rescue mission was planned. On 28 May 2012, the operation was carried out: two teams – one from the British Army 22nd Special Air Service Regiment ( SAS ) and one from U.S. Naval Special Warfare DEVGRU – were inserted by U.S. Army 160th SOAR "Nightstalker" Sikorsky MH-60M Blackhawk helicopters at an LZ 2 km from the target location, then the assault force advanced on foot through the forest and established a security cordon before assaulting into the caves simultaneous. The SEALs assaulted and cleared one cave killing seven gunmen but didn't find any hostages. The SAS team assault on the other cave killed a further four gunmen and rescued all four hostages, none of the hostages or operators were harmed.[37]

On 8 December 2012, DEVGRU rescued Dilip Joseph, an American doctor held captive by the Taliban in Eastern Afghanistan. Dr. Joseph, who was working for an aid organization, was kidnapped along with two Afghan colleagues at a road block by armed men and were moved to a compound in Laghma Province. The two Afghans were later released after negotiations. When intelligence indicated Dr. Joseph was in imminent danger a rescue operation was mounted. During the operation, seven of his Taliban captors were killed and two Taliban captured according to sources in the news and other articles. A DEVGRU member involved in the rescue, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas Checque, was also killed. Checque was a highly decorated combat veteran awarded with the Bronze Star Medal with Valor and the Purple Heart as well as the Navy Cross posthumously awarded following the mission, among many others.[38] Senior Chief Naval Special Warfare Operator Edward C. Byers received the Medal of Honor on February 29, 2016, for his actions during the rescue.[39] Byers was the second SEAL through the door moving into position within the room where Joseph was being held and immediately engaged an enemy fighter, he then saw an unidentified individual moving across the floor in which he tackled them pinning him to the ground, once identified as another enemy fighter he was engaged by Byers. After hearing a response back from Dilip Joseph identifying his position Byers covered Joseph with his own body while also holding another armed enemy fighter close by to a wall by the throat until teammates could dispatch the enemy.

By the end of 2014, U.S. and NATO forces withdrew from Afghanistan-concluding Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan, the following year, US operations within Afghanistan continued under the codename: Operation Freedom's Sentinel.

On August 7, 2016, an American and an Australian professor working at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, were kidnapped;[40] CNN reported that a few days later operators from SEAL Team Six attempted to rescue them. The operators parachuted (HALO jump) into Afghanistan, but failed to find them at the location they searched, however, the BBC reported that there were no US service personnel or civilians were harmed and a number of "hostile forces" were killed.[41] The US was never certain the professors were at the site, or if they were, when they had been moved. Some electronic media was recovered indicating the identities of those who were holding them.[42]

DEVGRU was also involved in the recovery of US personnel killed when a US Bombardier E-11A jet which crashed in mountainous territory in eastern Afghanistan, January 27, 2020.[43]

MV Maersk Alabama, a 508 foot long cargo ship carrying 17,000 tons of humanitarian aid supplies, was seized by pirates 240 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, in waters notorious for piracy. After a confrontation with the crew, four of the hijackers fled in the ship's lifeboat, taking Captain Richard Phillips with them as hostage and resulting in a stand-off with a group US Navy warships including, USS Bainbridge DDG-96, USS Halyburton FFG-40, and USS Boxer LHD-4. DEVGRU operators flew non-stop from Virginia to the Horn of Africa, then parachuted into the water, before finally arriving aboard the Bainbridge. Three of the operators, one for each pirate, took up sniper positions on the fantail of the ship, with presidential authorization to use lethal force, if it was required. The leader of the pirate group was lured onto the USS Braindridge under the assumption that his group's leaders were aboard the ship and negotiations were going to be held. However, shortly after boarding the ship, SEALs and Navy personnel disarmed the assailant. He would later stand trial in the U.S. for piracy. At one point, following a struggle between the pirates and Capt. Phillips where shots were fired, the SEALs felt the hostage's life was in imminent danger. When the first opportunity appeared and the heads of all three captors were visible at the same time, all three snipers fired simultaneously, killing all three pirates at once with head-shots. Phillips was then successfully rescued, bringing the stand-off to an end.[54]

The United States had been in a relentless pursuit of Warsame for some time. After JSOC and American intelligence determined when and where Warsame would be by tracking his cell phone and analyzing information provided by local spies, a snatch and grab operation was considered. Intelligence indicated that Warsame would be traveling with a single associate in international body of water. He would not have a contingent of heavily armed body guards with him. DEVGRU was prepared to capture Warsame and bring him in. Ever since the successful mission of Operation Celestial Balance, the Obama administration knew it would eventually be faced with the opportunity to capture a high-value terrorist. After months of debate, planning, and legal wrangling. The mission to capture Warsame was authorized. Next, at dusk on April 19, 2011. Warsame was finally in the international waters in his boat with just his associate. Seal team 6 operatives had with them a harmless looking traditional wooden ship sailing towards Warsame's fishing boat in the Gulf of Aden. The Seals were hidden behind the wooden ship in Navy fast boats. Snipers were placed on a nearby vessel as overwatch in case if the Seals needed sniper cover. The Seals approached Warsame's boat undetected, stealthily boarded, and subdued Warsame and his associate. The Seals transported Warsame and his associate to the USS Boxer. The mission of capturing Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame was a successful operation by the Seals of DEVGRU without a shot being fired.[55]

In a mission codenamed Octave Fusion, on 24 January 2012, operators from DEVGRU Blue squadron,[56] successfully rescued American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, who had been detained by Somali bandits in north-central Somalia. The pair had been abducted around the area of Galkayo three months earlier while working as aid workers helping to remove land mines. Officials stated plans for a rescue operation had been under development for weeks, but acted after discovering that Buchanan's health was deteriorating due to an undisclosed illness.[57] DEVGRU was prepared to capture the hostage takers but this proved unfeasible and nine "heavily armed" kidnappers were killed.[58] The SEALs were parachuted in at night before advancing two miles to the enemy compound on foot. After securing the safety of Buchanan and Thisted, the team, who suffered no injuries, were extracted by helicopter.[59]

On October 5, 2013, United States Navy DEVGRU launched a raid against a beachside house primarily to capture a key member of Al-Shabaab, called Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, known as "Ikrima", and to gain intelligence. The SEALs approached the beach from several small boats. 20 SEALs then moved inland, roughly 200 metres towards a two-story building which was confirmed the location of the Al Shabaab commander. The SEALs split into two teams, six SEALs then entered the house while the rest stayed outside to provide a security perimeter. During this time, an Al Shabaab fighter walked out for a cigarette and spotted them and a firefight broke out. SEALs inside the house killed one fighter but chose to withdraw without capturing Ikrima due to an increased number of women and children in the immediate area.[60]

Diagram of Osama bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He was killed there on 2 May 2011.

On 1–2 May 2011 DEVGRU's Red Squadron undertook the covert operation codenamed Operation Neptune Spear,[63] under the CIA's authority, and killed Osama bin Laden,[64] leader of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, at his compound 34°10′9.51″N 73°14′32.78″E in the city of Abbottabad, 113 kilometres (70 mi) from Islamabad, the Federal capital of Pakistan.[65][66][67] The attack itself lasted 38 minutes. Bin Laden's adult son, a woman, and two couriers were also killed. There were no casualties to the team. They had practiced the mission "on both American coasts" and in a segregated section of Camp Alpha at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan in early April 2011, using a 1 acre (0.40 ha) replica of bin Laden's compound.[68][69][70] Modified MH-60 helicopters from the U.S. Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment Airborne "Nightstalkers" carried DEVGRU "Red Squadron" operators and paramilitary operatives from the CIA's Special Activities Division. Other personnel supported with tactical signals, intelligence collectors, and navigators using highly classified hyperspectral imagers from Ghazi Air Base in Pakistan.[71]

Because of its covert nature, the raid was a CIA operation with DEVGRU being transferred under CIA authority for its duration.[72][73] A 1 May memo from CIA Director Leon Panetta thanked the National Security Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, whose mapping and pattern-recognition software was likely used to determine that there was "high probability" that Bin Laden lived in the compound. Members of these agencies were paired with JSOC units in forward-deployed fusion cells to "exploit and analyze" battlefield data instantly using biometrics, facial recognition systems, voice print databases, and predictive models of insurgent behavior based on surveillance and computer-based pattern analysis.[74] The operation was a result of years of intelligence work that included the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM),[75] the tracking of the courier to the Abbottabad compound by CIA paramilitary operatives, and the establishing of a CIA safe house that provided critical ground intelligence.[76][77] On the first anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden the Combatting Terrorism Center released documents seized from Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad home.[78] The Associated Press reported that the troops had been trained to search for documents, computer files and "pocket litter" "that might produce leads to other terrorists".

In popular culture, several books have tried to capture the events of the mission. The first of which was the 2011 graphic novel published by IDW Publishing, Code Word: Geronimo, written by retired Marine Corps Captain Dale Dye and Julia Dye, and illustrated by former U.S. Army combat medic Gerry Kissell. Later, the controversial book Seal Target Geronimo, by Chuck Pfarrer, a former Navy SEAL, that disputed the accounts by the DoD of how the events occurred the night of the raid on the compound. Finally, in 2012, the book No Easy Day was released. The book was written by a DEVGRU Red Squadron operator writing under the pseudonym "Mark Owen", who was part of Operation Neptune Spear and claimed to be one of the two operators who engaged Bin Laden. Then, in 2012, a film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal was released called Zero Dark Thirty. The film portrayed the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the raid performed by DEVGRU. Another film, Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden, depicting the events of Operation Neptune Spear, was also released in 2012. The events in the film have neither been "confirmed nor denied" by White House officials..

For the operation, President Barack Obama awarded the unit the Presidential Unit Citation.[79]

A U.S. official confirmed that about two dozen U.S. special operations forces and a team of Yemeni counterterrorism troops conducted a raid near the border with Saudi Arabia that rescued six Yemenis, a Saudi and an Ethiopian. Eight militants were killed during the operation.[80]

U.S. Marine MV-22 Ospreys on the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island, December 21, 2016.

On January 29, 2017, the New York Times reported that SEALs from SEAL Team Six carried out the surprise dawn attack on an AQAP headquarters in Bayda Province that a senior American official said counterterrorism officials had deemed valuable enough to warrant a ground operation rather than an airstrike. However, based on eyewitness statements the element of surprise was (partially) lost after residents of the targeted location heard the sound of unmanned aerial vehicles several hours before US ground forces arrived (but allegedly did not expect a ground raid).[81] The US military stated the raid led to “the capture of information that will likely provide insight into the planning of future terror plots." Reuters reported that the raid began with a drone attack on the home of Abdulraoof al-Dhahab, followed by the arrival of paratroopers.[82] According to this account, corroborated among residents, a Yemeni security official, and a local official, "helicopters bombed the [al Qaeda] gunmen and a number of homes and led to a large number of casualties."[82] A senior American official said a USMC MV-22B Osprey that was sent from USS Makin Island (LHD-8)[83] to evacuate the wounded troops in the raid crash-landed nearby, leaving two more service members injured. American forces intentionally destroyed the aircraft with further airstrikes.[84]

The raid killed three prominent members of Al Qaeda: Abdulraoof al-Dhahab, Sultan al-Dhahab and Seif al-Nims[84][85] The US military estimated that 14 Qaeda fighters were killed in the raid, that women were among the Qaeda fighters killed and injured, and that "the SEALs saw the women running to fighting positions as the team approached."[86] According to medical reports, eight women and seven children, aged 3 to 13, were killed in the raid.[87] U.S. citizen Nawar al-Awlaki, the eight-year-old daughter of Al Qaeda preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, killed in a 2011 drone strike, was among those killed.[88] The US military initially denied there were any civilian casualties, but later declared it was investigating if they occurred.[84] One SEAL was killed (Chief Petty Officer William "Ryan" Owens) and three others were injured.[89][81]

The New York Times reported that on 23 May 2017, Members of SEAL Team 6 carried out a raid on an AQAP-linked compound in Ma'rib Governorate. Colonel John Thomas, a CENTCOM spokesman, said that the raid was "intended to seize potentially important information from the compound - typically electronic devices such as computers, hard drives and cellphones - and was not an attempt to kill or capture a particular individual." The raid resulted in the killing of 7 AQAP militants by what a CENTCOM statement said was "through a combination of small-arms fire and precision airstrikes.”[90]