FBI Highlights the Hostage Rescue Team’s 30 Years of Service

The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team is federal law enforcement’s only full-time counterterrorism unit. FBI.gov is highlighting the team with a special 6 part series that celebrates its 30 years of service to the nation.

Part 1: Three Decades of Service: “Last month marked the 30th anniversary of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team (HRT)—federal law enforcement’s only full-time counterterrorism unit—a highly trained group of special agents often called upon during the toughest times. “ Part 2: The Crucible of Selection: “FBI agents hoping to earn a spot on the Hostage Rescue Team—federal law enforcement’s lead counterterrorism tactical team—relinquish their names when they report for the grueling selection process held at Quantico, Virginia each year.” Part 3: Training for Every Contingency: "The handful of special agents who make it through the Hostage Rescue Team’s selection process have only just begun their journey to become HRT operators. Each new generation of recruits must undergo eight months of intensive training before joining the team and deploying on missions." Part 4: Night Maneuvers: “The subject was overheard by a co-worker discussing five explosive devices he had secretly placed around the nation’s capital. Intelligence suggested that the subject’s laptop—which never left his side—was a triggering device that could be activated in a matter of seconds. The Hostage Rescue Team’s mission: capture the subject and secure his computer before he detonated the bombs.” Part 5: Held to a Higher Standard: “The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles were approaching, and the federal government realized it needed a non-military counterterrorism tactical team to help safeguard the games—and to prevent a tragedy like the one that occurred at the Munich Olympics in 1972, when Palestinian gunmen took 11 Israeli athletes hostage and later murdered them. The responsibility for that new tactical team was given to the FBI, and Atherton (now retired) wanted to be a part of it.” Part 6: Mission in the Gulf of Aden: “Early one morning in Nairobi, Kenya, information began flowing into the FBI’s legal attaché office there concerning the hijacking of a private yacht with four American passengers on board in the Gulf of Aden—perhaps the most pirated body of water in the world.”

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