A top-secret U.S. Army Special Operations unit has been running covert missions all over the world, from leading death squads to the hideout of drug baron Pablo Escobar to assassinating key al Qaeda members, including Iraqi leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and, in one of their greatest missions, capturing Saddam Hussein. 'The Activity," as it became known to insiders, has achieved near-mythical status, even among the world's Special Operations elite. Now journalist Michael Smith gets inside this clandestine military team to expose their explosive history and secrets. The Activity's story begins with the abortive attempt to rescue the American hostages from Iran in 1980. One of the main reasons Operation Eagle Claw failed was a chronic lack of intel on the ground, so in January 1981, U.S. military chiefs set up the "Intelligence Support Activity," a cover name for a secret army surveillance team that could operate undercover anywhere in the world. Hidden from the politicians and the government bean counters, it would carry out deniable operations preparing the way for Delta and SEAL Team Six. Michael Smith has spoken to many former members of the Activity, and we follow them on operations from the war on the drug barons that led Colombian "death squads" to the hideouts of Pablo Escobar and his men. We learn of more recent missions, including snatching war criminals from their safe houses in the Balkans (at one time disguising themselves as French soldiers to lull a Serb warlord into a false sense of security), and operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa. Killer Elite reveals the incredible truth behind the world's most secret Special Operations organization, a unit that is at the forefront of the War on Terror. A British journalist specializing in defense topics offers a readable, useful addition to the literature on American special operations forces. During the expansion of special operations forces in the 1980s, a secret group given the code name Intelligence Support Activity was charged with the primary function of gathering intelligence. It has played a valuable though unpublicized role in both Iraq wars, in antiterrorist operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere, and in the war on drugs. Its operatives can also fight--very well--as and when necessary. This book is finally a portrait of the unit's founder, Jerry Ryan, who had the usual spec-ops specialist's trouble with the brass. But his unit, now expanded to regimental strength, seems likely to remain on U.S. Army rolls, and military buffs and authorities may some day rank Ryan with Charles Beckwith, the founder of Delta Force. Roland Green Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Praise for KILLER ELITE: "Well written and authoritatively sourced, Killer Elite is the first detailed account of a special operations unit that Smith regards as America's most effective." -- Sunday Telegraph "Well written and authoritatively sourced, Killer Elite is the first detailed account of a special operations unit that Smith regards as America's most effective." -- Sunday Telegraph . "Intelligence authority Michael Smith has produced a controversial new book which reveals details of an extraordinary covert operation currently in place to track down and eliminate major terrorist figures." Eye Spy Magazine 'Absorbing material, superbly presented.' Scottish Legion News Praise for THE EMPEROR'S CODES: "An engrossing and exciting recounting of an...important facet of World War II." -- Booklist "A great story and one of importance." -- Library Journal "An enthralling tale, the stuff of John le Carre or Robert Harris, but true." --Martin Booth, Daily Telegraph Michael Smith writes on defense for the Sunday Times of London and was named the 2006 UK Press Awards Specialist Writer of the Year. He has worked for a number of newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph, where he was defense correspondent. A former member of the British Army's Intelligence Corps, Smith covered the wars in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq and has broken a number of important stories, most notably the infamous Downing Street Memos. He is the award-winning author of numerous bestselling books, including The Emperor's Codes, a true story of code-breaking during World War II. Chapter One DEBACLE AT DESERT ONE Sitting in the forward operations centre in a filthy Egyptian Air Force hangar at the Wadi Qina air base, 300 miles south of Cairo, Colonel Jerry King was powerless to prevent the debacle at Desert One. As chief of staff to Major General James "Hammer" Vaught, the man in charge of the Delta Force attempt to rescue 53 American hostages held captive in Tehran, King could only listen with mounting anger to the frantic satellite radio messages coming out of Iran in the early hours of 25 April 1980. Not that anyone out there at the Desert One staging post, 250 miles southeast of the Iranian capital in the Dasht-e-Kavir desert, co