Tip of the Hat: Navy SEAL Team 6
It feels a lot like the awe you had as a little kid for Superman, except that these guys likely are stronger than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings.
Hardly anyone ever hear of Navy Seal Team 6 prior to President Obama's stunning announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A slightly larger percentage of the population has some idea that "Special Operations" personnel are part of our overall military and intelligence capabilities. For obvious reasons, the identities of "the best of the best" and their operations are among our most highly classified information.
The secretive nature of Special Ops adds to their legendary fame among supports, and it fuels suspicion and contempt among detractors. Two years ago Seymour Hersch, an anti-American extremist who disguises himself as a journalist, stoked Bush-Cheney hatred by pointing to the existence of Special Operations, and labeling them as an "executive assassination ring" that answered only to Vice-President Cheney (gasp!) with no Congressional oversight.
The surest way in the world to blow the cover and identity of Special Ops would be to let a bunch of Members of Congress in on the secret.
We should write volumes about these heroes, but as a TIME feature said, "The first rule of Navy SEAL Team 6 is you don't talk about SEAL Team 6."
Another journalist tracked down a former Navy SEAL for a comment about Team 6. The SEAL veteran delivered the standard company line; "You know I'd love to help you man, but I can't say a word about Team 6. There is no Team 6."
For the record, we're glad we have them. We take nothing away from President Obama and his closest advisors who made the call to take out bin Laden. But, the years of dedication by the SEALS to study, training, and finally execution of such a historic mission all done in complete anonymity – not to mention the inherent risk – is why we offer them a Tip-of-the-Hat this month. May God bless them and the other great men and women dedicated to our security and the eradication of evil.
- Bob Beauprez, Editor-in-Chief's blog
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Sanjai Bhagat is Professor of Finance at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has worked previously at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Princeton University, and University of Chicago. He has an MBA from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington.