Peter Bergen Quotes

Seal Team Six is a different unit than the rest of the SEAL teams inasmuch as they concentrate primarily on one thing, counter-terrorism, hostage rescue.

The SAS is the most elite of the special forces in the world. They are not people who go out and advertise; they keep it inside. They don't want anybody to know about them.

The Navy Seals don't travel with 200 people, they wouldn't be able to execute the kind of tip-of-the-spear missions they do.

Any information about U.S. special operations forces is highly sensitive.

We certainly have the best special operations forces in the world and know how to do counterterrorism extremely well.

I've always been fascinated with Navy SEALs in general and their role in Afghanistan in particular.

The Green Berets of U.S. Special Forces 5th Group - known as 'the Legion' - who led the anti-Taliban campaign represent a textbook case of a successful Special Forces campaign.

The Special Operations community is rooted in unconventional warfare.

X-Force was made like a brutal X-Men club - they're doing special forces, R-rated things.

The Obama presidency has seen the U.S. military's elite tactical forces increasingly used in an attempt to achieve strategic goals. But with Special Operations missions kept under tight wraps, Americans have little understanding of where their troops are deployed, what exactly they are doing, or what the consequences might be down the road.

Able Danger consisted of approximately 20 direct individuals working for Special Forces in Tampa, Florida. The total amount of people working for Able Danger was 20.

Maybe it's the spy novelist in me looking for a future plot, but I hope the U.S. and its allies are thinking how to operate 'unconventionally' in Iraq and Syria in ways that undermine the Islamic State.

In the past, Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, of which SEAL Team 6 is a key component, has only launched ground raids in Yemen when the lives of hostages held by al Qaeda seemed at risk.

Special ops isn't the answer to everything. Special ops is not the main guard.

I joined the Marines, passed Special Forces selection, and became a young leader in the military.

Unconventional warfare needs to remain the heart and soul of U.S. Special Operations Command and component commands.

I was point man, which meant I was the first through the door, hunting down Taliban commanders, knocking down forts every night.

You cannot deny the fact that, in the United States, there are some really great guys with rich experience in overt and covert special operations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

'Horse Soldiers' is the untold story of how a small band of U.S. Special Forces soldiers secretly entered Afghanistan in 2001, just five weeks after September 11, saddled up on horses, and rode to an improbable victory against a vastly larger Taliban and Al Qaeda army.

If bin Laden is in fact publicly killed, then the US military will find itself standing around with its hands in its pockets, wondering what's supposed to come next.

As we are all aware, Special Operations Forces, SOF, are playing an increasingly essential role as we continue to fight and, more importantly, win the war on terror.

I mean, it's not just one day you get up, bang, and you got Osama bin Laden. It's the kind of thing where an awful lot of people over a long period of time - thousands have worked this case and these issues and followed on the leads and captured bad guys and interrogated them and so-forth.

The U.S., often in secret, carries out counterterrorism missions all the time, with drones in places like Yemen and Somalia.

Received phone call from Tom Donilon who stated that the President made a decision with regard to AC1 [Abbottabad Compound 1]. The decision is to proceed with the assault....The direction is to go in and get Bin Ladin and if he is not there, to get out. Those instructions were conveyed to Admiral McCraven at approximately 10:45 AM.

We have the ability to take him out and the time has come to exercise that ability…a few covert operators can do the job.