SEAL Team 6 Operator Reveals the Mission That Helped Kill Anwar al-Awlaki

[BLUF]
A former special operations operator recounts the high-stakes, covert mission to place a tracking device on the vehicle of Anwar al-Awlaki, a key Al-Qaeda propagandist in Yemen, detailing the creative tactics used to bypass security and the eventual loss of the signal due to funding cuts 2:15.

Key Takeaways:
• Anwar al-Awlaki, known as "AAA," was a critical Al-Qaeda figure who used his US citizenship and online presence to radicalize individuals, including the Boston Marathon bombers, making him a primary target for US forces 1:31.
• To track al-Awlaki, the team identified that his driver parked the target vehicle in front of a convenience store to keep it under surveillance, which allowed the operators to plan a covert insertion 3:16.
• The team commandeered a van, cut a hidden hatch into the floor with a thermite torch, and modified it to look like a spare tire compartment to avoid detection during inspection 5:30.
• During the operation, the operator drove the van next to the target, then crawled underneath it through the hidden hatch to attach a complex tracking device with multiple antennas before returning to the vehicle 7:35.
• Although the tracker initially worked, the signal dropped after 24 hours; the team later discovered that JSOC had stopped paying for the communication components of the device, causing the failure 13:40.

The mission, despite the technical failure, provided valuable intelligence on al-Awlaki's patterns of life that contributed to his eventual elimination.

Sources:

• 2:15 Introduction to Anwar al-Awlaki and his role as a radicalizer.
• 3:16 Discovery of the driver's parking habits to facilitate surveillance.
• 5:30 Modification of a stolen van to create a hidden entry point.
• 7:35 The execution of the covert tracking device installation.
• 13:40 Revelation that funding cuts caused the tracker to stop working.