AFO – Advance force operations, the name given to low-visibility missions conducted by JSOC operators to prepare for possible future combat operations. The concept was pioneered by Delta’s Operational Support Troop, before becoming the name of a cell on the JSOC staff. AFO missions are sometimes described as “operational preparation of the battlefield” or “operational preparation of the environment.”
AH-6 – The attack, or gunship, version of the two-pilot Little Bird helicopter used exclusively by 1st Battalion of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
Air assault – A combat mission in which infantry or special operations forces are delivered to the target by helicopter.
Airborne – In the military, this word is normally used to describe parachute troops and missions.
Air strike – An attack that involves munitions—bombs or missiles—delivered from an aerial platform (a plane or helicopter).
Al-Shabaab – A militant group whose name means “the youth,” al-Shabaab was part of the Islamic Courts Union, but split off and became the dominant Islamist group in the Horn of Africa after Ethiopia’s JSOC-assisted 2006 invasion of Somalia. In 2012 al-Shabaab formally allied itself with Al Qaeda.
AQAP – Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the name of the Al Qaeda franchise in Yemen, which by the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century U.S. officials had come to view as the terrorist organization that posed the greatest threat to the U.S. homeland.
AQI – Al Qaeda in Iraq, also known as Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and Al Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers. Led at its height by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, AQI was JSOC’s primary enemy during the Iraq War.
The Army of Northern Virginia – One of many nicknames for the Army intelligence unit that began its life in 1980 as the Field Operations Group, and was known for much of the 1980s as the Intelligence Support Activity. Other cover names and nicknames down through the years have included the Tactical Coordination Detachment, the U.S. Army Office of Military Support, Torn Victor, Centra Spike, Gray Fox, and Task Force Orange.
Asayish – The Kurdish intelligence organization with which JSOC worked closely.
Aztec squadron – The Delta Force squadron on call for no-notice deployments. Responsibility to be the Aztec squadron rotated between Delta’s assault squadrons.
Black Hawk – The Army’s name for its UH-60 utility helicopter (also called an assault or lift helicopter). The MH-60 was the special operations version used exclusively by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
Black SOF – The phrase “black SOF [special operations forces]” is military shorthand for JSOC forces in general, and special mission units in particular. (See also White SOF.)
Black Squadron – A SEAL Team 6 unit tasked with advance force operations and other undercover missions.
Brown Cell – A SEAL Team 6 advance force operations unit that grew out of “the Brown Boys,” a small group of operators that did undercover work in advance of the 1989 Panama invasion. SEAL Team 6 shut Brown Cell down after a few years.
Bullet Package – The helicopters and personnel kept on alert by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. The composition of the Bullet Package evolved slightly over the years, but was always based around the regiment’s 1st Battalion, plus a couple of 2nd Battalion’s Chinooks. Also known as the Silver Bullet.
CCO – Commercial cover operative: an intelligence officer operating under commercial cover—i.e., pretending to be a businessman or woman, rather than a U.S. government employee.
CENTCOM – U.S. Central Command, the four-star geographic combatant command responsible for U.S. military operations in the Middle East, southwest Asia, and Central Asia. Headquartered, like U.S. Special Operations Command, at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida.
Chinook – The Army’s name for its CH-47 twin-rotor cargo helicopter. The MH-47 was the special operations version used exclusively by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
CIF – Combatant commander’s in-extremis force, a company in each active-duty Special Forces group whose mission was to respond quickly to emergencies when JSOC forces were not immediately available. (The Army’s five active-duty Special Forces groups were oriented on geographic regions that roughly aligned with the combatant commanders’ geographic areas of responsibility.) Previously called the CinC’s in-extremis force before 2002, when then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld banned the use of the phrase “commander-in-chief” to refer to the military’s four-star combatant commanders. The CIFs trained closely with Delta and other JSOC forces, and sometimes augmented JSOC task forces on operations.
CinC – Commander-in-chief, a phrase used to denote the four-star head of one of the military’s combatant commands, before Rumsfeld banned its use in 2002.
CNOS – Computer Network Operations Squadron, a Delta offshoot that focused on cyber warfare.
Covered air – A covered air unit is one whose personnel and aircraft operate undercover.
CT – Counterterrorism.
CTCSG – The Counterterrorism Campaign Support Group, a short-lived organization Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Richard Myers established in October 2001 to support JSOC.
DAP – Direct Action Penetrator, a version of the MH-60 Black Hawk equipped with weapons mounted on stubby wings, allowing the aircraft to function as an attack helicopter. (In an apparent fit of political correctness, the Army renamed the DAP the Defensive Armed Penetrator, but few in the 160th community refer to it as such.)
Dash-2 – The trail aircraft or “wingman” in any two-aircraft formation.
DevGroup, DevGru – Abbreviations of Naval Special Warfare Development Group, the cover name for SEAL Team 6 since 1989.
DoD – A common abbreviation for the Department of Defense. Pronounced “D-oh-D.”
Echo Squadron – Delta’s aviation squadron. Headquartered at Fort Eustis, Virginia. For many years its cover name was Flight Concepts Division.
EFP – Explosively formed projectile: a sort of roadside bomb that produced a jet of molten copper that sliced through armored vehicles. EFPs were used in Iraq primarily by Iranian surrogates, who received them from Iran’s Quds Force.
EOD – Explosive ordnance disposal.
Exfil – Abbreviation of “exfiltrate,” the word used in JSOC to refer to the act of pulling out of a situation.
The Farm – The CIA’s espionage tradecraft training facility at Camp Peary, Virginia.
Fort Bragg – The large Army post in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Home to Delta Force since 1977 and, since 2011, when Bragg absorbed the adjacent Pope Air Force Base, to JSOC as well.
GAF – Ground assault force, a JSOC term that refers to an assault force that uses ground vehicles (as opposed to helicopters) to approach a target. (See also HAF.)
GMV – Ground mobility vehicle, a special operations version of the Humvee.
GPS – Global Positioning System, a navigation system that relies on satellites to provide accurate location and time data.
Gray Fox – The name during the immediate post–September 11 period for the special access program for information related to the Army intelligence unit later known as Task Force Orange.
GWOT – The Global War on Terror, the collective name the George W. Bush administration gave to the counterterrorism campaigns it launched in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
HAF – Helicopter assault force, a JSOC term that refers to an assault force that uses helicopters to approach a target. As with the companion term GAF, it became a verb: units either HAF’d (pronounced “haffed”) or GAF’d to a target.
HAHO – High-altitude, high-opening: a military freefall parachuting technique that involves jumpers leaping from a plane at altitudes of up to 34,900 feet, opening their parachutes quickly, and then floating on the wind for up to twenty miles before landing.
HALO – High-altitude, low-opening: a military freefall parachuting technique in which jumpers leap from a plane at high altitude, then freefall for many thousands of feet before opening their parachutes as low as 2,500 feet above the ground.
Humint – Human intelligence: i.e., intelligence derived from classic espionage, as well as from interrogations and other nontechnical means.
Imagery – Photographs taken for intelligence purposes by aircraft and satellites.
Infil – Abbreviation of “infiltrate,” the word used in JSOC to describe the process of moving personnel—often clandestinely—into an area of operations. Sometimes used as an abbreviation of the noun “infiltration” as well.
ISAF – The International Security Assistance Force: the overall military Coalition headquarters in Afghanistan.
ISI – Inter-Services Intelligence: Pakistan’s most influential intelligence agency.
ISR – Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
Jackpot – The JSOC word for a successful direct action mission, i.e., one in which the target of the mission is captured or killed, or, if a hostage rescue mission, one in which the precious cargo is rescued.
J-alert birds – The Air Force planes kept on alert to transport a JSOC task force from the United States on four hours’ notice.
JIATF – Joint interagency task force.
JIB – The JSOC Intelligence Brigade: a roughly 600-person unit established in 2008.
JOC – Joint operations center: a field headquarters from which most JSOC operations are run.
JSOC – Joint Special Operations Command.
Legend – An undercover intelligence operative’s false biography, which provides the basis for a cover story to explain his or her presence in a location from which to conduct espionage.
Little Bird – A small, two-pilot helicopter used exclusively by the 1st Battalion of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. There are two versions: the AH-6 gunship and the MH-6 lift helicopter.
Low-vis – Low-visibility: a term usually used in JSOC to refer to operators moving through a town or city in clothes and (sometimes) vehicles that do not draw attention.
LZ – Landing zone: the place where a helicopter lands, as used by the aviators.
MacDill Air Force Base – The installation in Tampa, Florida, that is home to both U.S. Special Operations Command and U.S. Central Command.
MH-6 – The lift variant of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment’s Little Bird helicopter.
MH-47 – The special operations variant of the CH-47 Chinook twin-rotor cargo helicopter. At the time of writing it was flown exclusively by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
MH-60 – The special operations variant of the UH-60 Black Hawk lift helicopter. At the time of writing it was flown exclusively by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
Mission set – The collective term for the range of missions a unit is expected to be able to accomplish.
Mogadishu Mile – The movement made on foot by some Rangers and Delta operators to a rally point toward the end of the October 1993 battle of Mogadishu.
Mohawks – The name given to the Iraqis that Delta recruited and trained in espionage tradecraft.
National Command Authority – The collective term for the president and the defense secretary.
National mission force – a phrase sometimes used in the government to refer to JSOC without naming the command.
Night Stalkers – The nickname for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
NOC – A nonofficial cover operative, i.e., an intelligence operative whose cover identity is that of someone other than a U.S. government employee. Pronounced “knock.”
OCF-I – Other Coalition Forces-Iraq: a phrase used by officials to refer to JSOC’s presence in Iraq without naming the command.
Omega teams – The combined CIA-JSOC teams that trained and commanded the Agency’s Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams, which were Afghan units that reported to the CIA, not to the Afghan government.
Optempo – Operational tempo (also operations tempo, operating tempo): the rate at which a unit conducts operations.
Orange – The one word many JSOC personnel use to refer to Task Force Orange, the color code name for an intelligence unit known in the 1980s as the Intelligence Support Activity and by a variety of other cover names since then.
OSD – The Office of the Secretary of Defense: the main staff element that supports not just the secretary of defense, him- or herself, but also the deputy defense secretary, the undersecretaries and assistant secretaries of defense, as well as a number of other staff offices.
OST – Operational Support Troop: the Delta unit that specialized in undercover and other low-vis work, and pioneered the advance force operations concept. In 2005 OST expanded into D Squadron, which was later renamed G Squadron.
Pandur – A six-wheel-drive armored vehicle used by Delta and SEAL Team 6.
Pathway defeat – A JSOC strategy to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction by intercepting components of such weapons before they reached their intended destination.
Peshmerga – Kurdish armed forces. The word means “those who confront death.”
Pinzgauer – Rugged six-wheel-drive combat vehicles used by Delta.
Pope Air Force Base – The North Carolina installation that was home to the JSOC headquarters since 1981. Adjacent to Fort Bragg, the Air Force base was taken over by the much larger Army post in 2011, and was renamed Pope Field.
Precious cargo – The name for the individuals to be safeguarded and rescued in any JSOC rescue mission.
PZ – Pickup zone: an alternative name for a helicopter landing zone when the helicopters are landing to pick up troops. Typically used by those on the ground.
Quds Force – Iran’s powerful covert operations organization. Officially part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Quds Force combined the mission sets that in the United States were the provinces of the CIA’s Directorate of Operations (later renamed the National Clandestine Service) and U.S. Special Operations Command.
Range 19 – The part of Fort Bragg where Delta’s new headquarters was built in 1987. The phrase often used by Delta operators to refer to their home base.
RHIB – Rigid hull inflatable boat, a type of boat used by SEALs. Pronounced “rib.”
RPG – Rocket-propelled grenade: an antitank weapon ubiquitous among the forces that JSOC has often found itself fighting. The RPG can also be used as an anti-helicopter weapon.
Sabre squadron – The generic name both Delta and the British SAS gave to their assault squadrons.
SAS – Special Air Service: the British special operations unit on which Charlie Beckwith modeled Delta. (Australia and New Zealand also have special operations units called the SAS.)
Sigint – Signals intelligence: any intelligence derived from intercepting radio, telephone, or other communications.
Silver Bullet – See Bullet Package.
SMU – Special mission unit: a specially designated unit in the U.S. military. Special mission units in JSOC include Delta, SEAL Team 6, the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, and Task Force Orange. Pronounced “smoo.”
SOCOM – An abbreviation of U.S. Special Operations Command.
SOF – Special operations forces. Pronounced “soff.”
Special Forces – In the U.S. military, the phrase “Special Forces” refers specifically to the five active-duty and two reserve Special Forces groups under U.S. Army Special Forces Command. Often referred to by others as “Green Berets,” on account of the color of their headgear, Special Forces soldiers specialize in working “by, with, and through” local forces to either foment rebellion against an enemy of the United States, or to put down an insurgency against an American ally. In other English-speaking countries, the phrase “special forces” is used as a generic term, similar to the use in the United States of the phrase “special operations forces.”
SSE – Sensitive site exploitation: the process of collecting all the material of intelligence value from a location (often, but not always, where a direct action mission has taken place).
Stryker – A wheeled armored vehicle used by the Rangers and by conventional Army units.
Task Force – A phrase often used as a generic pseudonym for JSOC, as in “those were Task Force aircraft,” or “it was a Task Force operation.”
Task Force 11 – The name JSOC gave its Afghanistan task force from the end of 2001.
Task Force 16 – The name for JSOC’s task force in Iraq that focused on fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Task Force 17 – The name JSOC gave its task force that focused on countering Iran’s Quds Force and the Shi’ite militant groups that functioned as its proxies in Iraq.
Task Force Blue – The color code name for SEAL Team 6.
Task Force Gold – The color code name for the Joint Communications Unit.
Task Force Gray – The color code name for 1st Special Operations Wing.
Task Force Green – The color code name for Delta.
Task Force Orange – The color code name for the Army of Northern Virginia.
Task Force Purple – The color code name for JSOC headquarters.
Task Force Red – The color code name for the Rangers.
Task Force Silver – The color code name for the Air Force covered air unit.
Task Force Sword – The name for JSOC’s Afghanistan task force, headquartered on Masirah Island, Oman, from September 2001 until the end of that year, when it became Task Force 11.
Task Force White – The color code name for the 24th Special Tactics Squadron.
TF – Task Force.
Theater special operations forces – A phrase used by U.S. Special Operations Command and others to refer to U.S. special operations forces that were not part of and had no habitual relationship with JSOC. Also known as “white SOF.”
Trident – The Trident was the SEAL Team 6 equivalent of Delta’s Aztec squadron. It was so named because of the Naval Special Warfare insignia of an eagle clutching a trident.
UBL – Usama bin Laden. Although the vast majority of English language sources spelled the Al Qaeda leader’s first name Osama, within the U.S. counterterrorism community he was often referred to as “UBL.”
Unconventional warfare – The use of proxy forces to foment rebellion against an enemy state. In the U.S. military, this is a primary mission of Special Forces.
Wescam ball – A gyro-stabilized camera in a spherical mounting fixed to the underside of an aircraft, the Wescam ball tracked targets and sent live video back to the JOC. Used primarily by Delta’s Echo Squadron.
White SOF – See Theater special operations forces.
Winchester – The phrase aviators use when they have run out of ammunition.
WMD – Weapons of mass destruction: nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons.
Workup – The phrase SEALs use for a training cycle, especially one that precedes a deployment.