What is Delta Force and how does it work? All about the secret elite unit that captured Maduro

The surgical precision with which dictator Nicolás Maduro was arrested and extracted from Venezuela without American casualties has a name of its own: Delta Force. This is how the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (SFOP-D), the U.S. Army's most elite direct action and counterterrorism unit, is colloquially known.

Since its creation in 1977, this elite unit has specialized in high-risk missions to capture or eliminate high-value targets, and other sensitive operations or infiltrations requiring special speed, stealth and precision.

Delta Force is under the direct command of the United States Special Operations Command and is typically deployed on missions of high political or strategic interest.

Active participation in several of the most relevant covert operations

According to Military.com, Delta Force is based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, which is the U.S. Army's special operations training center.

This elite unit has actively participated in several of the country's most important military operations, such as the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Its members were also responsible for carrying out numerous counterterrorism missions in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East, targeting senior Al Qaeda leaders.

“Black Hawk Down”

They were also in charge of conducting the 1993 mission in Somalia that inspired the movie “Black Hawk Down,” and many other secret operations at the highest level that are unlikely to ever come to public light.

On that occasion, the objective was to capture Mohamed Farrah Aidid in Mogadishu. Subsequently, it was to rescue Army pilot Michael Durant after his helicopter crashed during the mission. Five Delta members died in that incident, as did another 14 U.S. soldiers. Several hundred Somali fighters and civilians also lost their lives in the incident.

This unit was also involved in a failed attempt to rescue the hostages of the U.S. embassy in Iran in 1980. Subsequently, despite secrecy, it is known that they were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and played a significant role in the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

A careful and selective choice of members

Since it was created by Colonel Charlie A. Beckwith in 1977, Delta Force has selected candidates from all the Armed Forces, including the Coast Guard and National Guard, but mainly from the Army. According to Military.com, many of its members are believed to come from the Army Rangers and Green Berets.

Beckwith pointed to the need for the U.S. to equip itself with a force capable of mobilizing quickly to combat unconventional threats. The benchmark was the British Special Air Service, with which Beckwith himself served as an exchange officer in 1962.

Demanding physical and psychological tests

In addition to passing demanding tests to prove their physical aptitude, Delta Force members must be psychologically prepared to carry out grueling operations.

“After recruits pass the physical and psychological portions of the assessment, they are taught skills like marksmanship and covert trade craft — CIA tactics like dead drops and other espionage methods — during a six-month Operator Training Course,” as explained by former member Eric Haney in his book “Inside Delta Force.”