In early 1984, U.S. Navy Cdr. Richard Marcinko, former commander of the Navy's elite counterterrorist unit SEAL Team SIX, was summoned to the office of Vice Admiral James A. "Ace" Lyons, Jr., then-Deputy Chief of Naval Operations. During the course of the meeting, Admiral Lyons conveyed to the commander his concerns over the vulnerability of U.S. military bases to terrorist attack. Marcinko was then directed to draft a proposal for a new unit, specifically tasked with testing the security of U.S. Navy bases.

This would not be the only mission of this new team. In fact, testing of Naval; security was primarily a cover for the unit's primary function - covert counterterrorist missions conducted around the world. In this way, a portion of the unit would deploy overtly to a given Naval base to carry out its security mandate, while a small element would covertly infiltrate a foreign nation to carry out whatever counterterrorist activity was required. This "activity" as to be very much in line with the practice of aggressive neutralization of known terrorists carried out on a regular basis by nations such as Israel and Great Britain.

In order to provide the maximum educational benefit for both the installation commander (as well as to verify Red Cell's claims of penetration - which were sometimes disputed by base commanders), it was decided that a video crew using low-light equipment would have to be incorporated into the planning and execution of each mission. This was no easy feat, as the video crew itself would also have to be able to penetrate the base in order to remain close enough to Red Cell to video its actions. To remedy this problem, three former SEAL Team SIX operators were hired to film every operation. This had a dual benefit in that not only were these men able to secretly enter the installation without giving away the location of the team, but having been trained in exactly the same techniques as the Red Cell members (some of whom they had already worked with in SEAL Team SIX) they could anticipate the moves of the team, and thus be in a position to provide superior video surveillance of the events as they unfolded.

In a short time, Marcinko chose the name "Red Cell" for this new unit (formally designated OP-06D) and set about selecting personnel. According to his non-fiction book Rogue Warrior: "There were fourteen plank owners in the unit, three officers and eleven enlisted men - one platoon, two boat crews, seven pairs of swim buddies. It was a classic SEAL design." (RW, p. 293) Thirteen of the fourteen SEALs were from Marcinko's former command, SEAL Team SIX. The only non-SEAL accepted into the unit was Steve Hartman, a former member of the USMC's Force Reconnaissance teams.

Red Cell team members were expected to maintain their SEAL qualifications in diving, parachuting, and demolition. Beyond this, however, they were given great latitude in virtually all regards. Marcinko's command style with regard to physical training conformed to that of numerous other elite special operations units around the world, such as the British SAS. There was no required, formalized fitness program. Instead, members were expected to train individually and expected to maintain a high level of physical fitness.



Oversight and Early Issues

By Marcinko's own admission, he and his men spent a great deal of their non-training time drinking and brawling, a theme carried over from his days as CO of SIX. This type of activity was certainly not unique to Red Cell, however the frequency of its occurrence and numerous mishaps that resulted directly from drinking have frequently been pointed out as a failure in discipline and leadership by Naval Special Warfare and conventional military officers of all branches. To be sure, this would catch up to Red Cell several months later, and prove to further the already poor disciplinary reputation of the unit within the Navy.

It may be said that this type of behavior was facilitated by the lack of oversight of Red Cell during its brief operational history, however this is only partly true. Indeed, while great attention was given to monitoring the unit's actions during training exercises, there existed virtually no supervisory apparatus to which the team had to answer during its off-duty hours. This lack of oversight can be said to have given carte blanche to Red Cell members to act not as disciplined members of a Navy unit, but rather more as a small fraternity that viewed themselves as beyond the standards of acceptable conduct, even for such a unique special operations/counterterrorist unit.

This is not to say, however, that Red Cell operated completely autonomously and without any regulation. In fact, Admiral Lyons drafted a "thick book of guidelines to make sure Red Cell did its job by the book." (RW, p. 287) Additionally, the team was assigned a Navy lawyer in an effort to ensure that they operated within the parameters of the law. Finally, each scenario could not simply be selected by Red Cell and acted upon. Instead, the team was required to present a scenario for a given installation to the small cadre of senior officers overseeing the program. Therefore, each scenario (as designed by Red Cell) had to first be approved by Admiral Lyons, then by the Vice Chief of Naval Operations and his staff, and finally by the Commander in Chief (CINC) of the theater in which the installation resided. Finally, according to Marcinko's book Rogue Warrior, Lyons added his own personal warning: "Stray too far from what we've agreed on, and you and your boys are history." (ibid.) These words would prove to be prophetic ones, but not before Red Cell had its moment in the sun.



Training

Red Cell was frequently partnered with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment during training exercises (most commonly the MH-6 Little Bird, especially for shipboard assaults), though they were ferried oftentimes by Air Force cargo aircraft. They used C-130's for both transport and for free fall parachute training, C-5's and C-141's for transportation of the team with its gear, as well as smaller aircraft as required.

Advanced training for this unit was not as essential for Red Cell, due to the fact that its team members had already graduated from the most rigorous military schools offered by the Department of Defense as well as those hosted by other nations. Moreover, all team members had active duty experience with Force Recon or the regular SEAL Teams and SEAL Team SIX, all of which offered continual training in advanced skills such as HALO and HAHO parachuting, advanced combat diving, close quarters battle (CQB), sniping, and scores of related techniques. For this reason, it was most important for Red Cell to maintain its proficiency in shooting and to develop unique new techniques such as might be needed by a globally-deployable counterterrorist unit. For this reason, it is possible that the team did spend some time training at the CIA's facility at the Harvey Point Defense Testing Activity ("The Point") where such skills are taught to CIA and DOD personnel.



Going Operational

In Spring 1985, Red Cell was ready for its first field test. The site selected for this was one familiar to the team members, the Norfolk Naval base facilities. The location was familiar due to the fact that Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base (home to SEAL Teams Two, Fours and Eight as well as SEAL Team SIX [Dam Neck would become the home of SIX's successor, the Naval Special Warfare Development Group]) was just a short twenty minute drive to the Norfolk base.

In practice, as set forth in the guidelines handed down by the Navy oversight body, the base commander was to be briefed not only on the fact that Red Cell would be conducting an active test of base security, but also which targets (facilities) were going to be 'attacked' and when the attack would take place. Umpires were also used on occasion as a neutral party to determine the casualties and damage inflicted as a result of Red Cell's incursions.

This procedure was followed at the inaugural three day event at Norfolk, which involved the use of smoke grenades, booby traps, and simulated explosives targeting the Navy's Second Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet Headquarters. This exercise took place and was deemed a general success, though it was primarily a test for Red Cell itself on interacting with base personnel, commanding officers, videotaping procedures, infiltration parameters, and similar necessary baseline procedures.