Gray Fox (military)
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- This article is about a US special forces unit. For other uses of the term Gray Fox, see Gray Fox (disambiguation).
Gray Fox is a secretive special missions unit of the United States military, originally known as Intelligence Support Activity (ISA).
The unit specializes in escorting VIPs, tracking down and capturing enemy operatives, counter-terrorism, and drug busts. Its members often work closely with Navy SEALs and Army Special Forces (the Green Berets).,
In 1993, its members intercepted a phone conversation that enabled them to track down the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
In 2002, Gray Fox fought alongside Delta Force and Navy SEAL units in the mountains of Afghanistan, according to Sean Naylor's book Not A Good Day to Die. Gray Fox operatives intercepted enemy communications and trekked to observations posts with special forces units. Their efforts may have saved more than a hundred 10th Mountain Division and 101st Airborne Division soldiers fighting atop Takur Ghar in Afghanistan's Shahikot Valley.
The unit helped search for Saddam Hussein after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The unit routinely receives new code names to preserve its cover. In the early 1990s, it was called "Capacity Gear." A more recent name is "Centra Spike," according to USMC Major James B. Woulfe's book, Against All Enemies. Previously, it operated under the "Big Safari" program. Currently, it is operating the "Titrant Ranger" program.
This unit is also referred to as the "Army of Northern Virginia," whose historical leader, Robert E. Lee, was nicknamed "Gray Fox."
[edit] See also
- Operation Red Dawn, the military operation in which Saddam Hussein was captured.
- SourceWatch's article about the ISA
- A National Security Archive's report about DoD-made HUMINT, including ISA
