More on GREY FOX

An interesting article appears in today's (8/12/05) Washington Times, as authored by Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough. It is short, so I will post it in its entirety as well as hyperlink it:

"Covert listeners
It was one of the major, behind-the-scenes military moves after the September 11 attacks. The Pentagon took a super-secret unit, which used to go by the code name Grey Fox, and put it under the wing of U.S. Joint Special Operations Command.

The marriage would work this way: The formerly named Grey Fox is a classified group of technicians and spies who specialize in eavesdropping on communications, anywhere on the globe. JSOC, which includes Army Delta Force and Navy SEALs, is committed to hunting down high-value terror targets. Thus, Grey Fox would work directly with JSOC to give covert warriors the actionable intelligence they need.

A well-placed defense source tells us the marriage is still in place, but a little shaky. Commandos in the field are not always happy with products produced by the technical unit, which has not always been successful in listening into conversations and Internet communications by terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq.

To make matters worse, the spies are so much in demand all over the world that they are not always available for JSOC's missions. One answer has been that JSOC has turned to private contractors to fill in the gap. Think of it another way. Twenty years ago there were only a limited numbers of ways to communicate. Today, terrorists can use cell phones, satellite phones, Internet chat rooms, e-mails and text messaging. It translates into millions of communications daily to sift through."

The question is, what moniker is this group using now?

Washington Times Article

Could it be Black Fox?

Bill Gertz takes a few liberties shall we say with his arguments, still very interesting though, generally Special Mission Units are never even known by name, or have a name for that matter. From what I understand it's more of a pool of specialists who are tasked into units that are disbanded after the objective is completed.

Being new to this site and just catching up on reading old threads, I thought I'd comment on a statement the last post made:

"...generally Special Mission Units are never even known by name, or have a name for that matter. From what I understand it's more of a pool of specialists who are tasked into units that are disbanded after the objective is completed."

Yes, that is quite true, at least in the US Army, which is the only branch I have served in. However the "opposite" is true as well...there are rosters of personnel who are highly proficient in certain areas and who can be assembled at short notice into specialized groups for a specific mission. Your name may be on the list for years and you may never get called, or you may be in high demand and spend more time with those special teams than with your own unit. I know people who have experienced both of those extremes...and then when soldiers who don't get the special treatment start noticing others receiving it, jealousy develops, and people start concocting stories about secret units that don't really exist...

Originally posted by wehrwolf
Could it be Black Fox?

Green Gerbil? At least noone would ever expect that

I doubt they're even going by a colored animal now. Chances are by now they've progressed to something like to letters and a number. So chances are we'll never know.

However a quick google search found me this;

'Grey Fox' closes in on prize scalp: Saddam

Peter Beaumont examines the new role of a secret unit that worked in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Colombia

Sunday June 22, 2003
The Observer

The most secretive military unit in the US armed forces is code-named Grey Fox. Over the past two months its role has been boiled down to a single mission: the hunt for Saddam Hussein and his sons Uday and Qusay.
And if Saddam is now dead, killed last week, it is certain Grey Fox was involved: Saddam would be its biggest catch since the downfall of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Officially members of a unit named 'Intelligence Support Activity', Grey Fox was established by the Pentagon in 1981 to work as manhunters, assassins and deep penetration agents.

From an interesting news article;
observer.guardian.co.uk...

It's a bit older so a lot may have changed since then. However it is pretty interesting.

just on a side note would Grey-Fox be the model for Metal Gears Covert op group Fox-Hound name is kinda simular?

Interesting article, thanks for the info!