American Unit Specializing in Deliberate Friendly Fire

TL;DR

Red Cell was a 13-man SEAL unit created to expose US naval base security flaws by simulating terrorist attacks, including planting fake explosives near Air Force One.

Key Points

• 1.Red Cell was formed after the catastrophic failure of Operation Eagle Claw in 1980. Eight service members died in the botched Iran hostage rescue, prompting military leadership to commission a specialist counterterrorism unit; Richard Marcinko was chosen to build it.
• 2.Marcinko created SEAL Team 6 as a Cold War deception. Teams three through five never existed — the numbering was designed to mislead the Soviets about US special operations capacity; he ran the unit from 1980 to 1983.
• 3.Red Cell's New London submarine base infiltration in June 1985 exposed catastrophic security gaps. The 13-man team climbed an unguarded cliff, breached the ordinance facility, planted dummy explosives on nuclear materials and torpedoes, and even infiltrated a submarine — all while video recording the exercise.
• 4.At Point Mugu Naval Air Station, Red Cell simulated bombing Air Force One. During Labor Day 1985, they placed fake explosives in FA-18 intakes, took hostages, stole a weapons carrier, loaded a fake 500 lb bomb covered by a tarp, and parked it next to Reagan's plane undetected.
• 5.Marcinko was ultimately relieved of command after a 1986 incident where a captured civilian security officer alleged he was beaten and had his head forced into a toilet. He retired in 1989, was convicted of defrauding the government in 1990, served 15 of 21 months, then became a bestselling author with his autobiography Rogue Warrior.