Direct Action (military)

Direct Action (military)

In the context of military special operations, direct action (DA) consists of: "Short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and which employ specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage designated targets. Direct action differs from conventional offensive actions in the level of physical and political risk, operational techniques, and the degree of discriminate and precise use of force to achieve specific objectives."

The United States and many allied countries consider DA one of the basic special operations missions. Some units specialize in it, such as Rangers of the 75th Ranger Regiment, while other units, such as US Army Special Forces, have DA capabilities but focus more on other operations. Unconventional warfare, special reconnaissance and direct action roles have merged through the decades and are typically performed primarily by the same units. For instance, while American Special Forces were originally created for the unconventional warfare (UW) mission and gradually added other capabilities, the United States Navy SEALs teams, and the UK Special Air Service and Special Boat Service continue to perform a primary DA role, with special reconnaissance (SR) as original missions. SEALs, SAS, and SBS added additional capabilities over time, responding to the needs of modern conflict. Russian Spetsnaz are DA and SR units.

Some countries may have standing units for deniable DA operations, and others may put together ad hoc volunteer groups for such missions. Under the US Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service, there is a Special Activities Division that operates without apparent national identification. It is possible that units of the Joint Special Operations Command or the frequently-renamed Intelligence Support Activity may do ad hoc operations.