The Charlotte Observer May 04, 2011
Command in N.C. flies mostly under radar
By Barbara Barrett
WASHINGTON - As Navy SEALs flew into Pakistan on Sunday for one of the most highly classified U.S. military missions in years, they worked under assignment through a little-known headquarters in North Carolina.
The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), based at Fort Bragg and Pope Field, has been the subject of much media speculation in recent years as the war in Afghanistan increasingly focused on counterterrorism.
Technically, JSOC is part of the U.S. Special Operations Command run out of MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Fla.
But several reports in the past two years say JSOC has a close relationship with the White House and runs largely outside of congressional oversight. JSOC is tasked with working alongside the Central Intelligence Agency to target high-value suspects in the administration's war on terrorism.
"They're phenomenal men and women, and they are the people who are willing to do the things that other people are not," said U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Charlotte Republican and chairwoman of the counterterrorism subcommittee on the House Intelligence Committee. "They are committed people who know that when they go into a situation that they may not come out of it."
So what do they do exactly in North Carolina?
"I can't tell you," Myrick said.
According to published reports, JSOC is in charge of several highly specialized tactical teams. Those include Navy SEAL Team 6 - the special forces who flew Chinooks into Pakistan, stormed bin Laden's compound and spirited away with his body. The team, known formally as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU, is based at in Virginia Beach, Va.
According to GlobalSecurity.org, JSOC was formed in 1980 after the failed hostage attempt in Iran. Publicly, the command serves as headquarters for joint operations among special forces, but it is widely reported to be the brain center for highly classified counterterrorism activities and the military's Special Mission Units.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal was head of JSOC from 2003 through 2008 before later becoming commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh reported in 2008 that JSOC's work in Afghanistan had "significantly expanded" under President George W. Bush.
A year later, The Nation, in a report by Jeremy Scahill, reported that North Carolina-based security firm Blackwater was working with JSOC at a forward operating base in Afghanistan, providing support for assassinations of high-value Taliban and al-Qaida targets.
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