Thread: US NSC Advisor Gen. Jones Nixes GSG-9 Pirate Hostage Rescue OP: Report

According to the German weekly magazine Der Spigel, the United States was asked by its close NATO ally to assist with logistics for the German assault force, said to involve over 200 members of GSG-9, German law enforcement’s most elite hostage rescue and counter-terrorism team. The plan was to retake the German freighter Hansa Stavanger and free the 24 crew members seized by Somali pirates in early April.

Deeming the planned assault far too risky and a possible “suicide mission,” Jones apparently felt the risk outweighed the benefits of the rescue attempt. German federal police leaders who oversee GSG-9 (a unit roughly equivalent to the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team) are likely relieved that the Marine General turned White House advisor vetoed the rescue plans, as they too were said to have been concerned that the bureaucratically convoluted and tactically complex hostage rescue effort might result in a “bloodbath.”

Report: Obama?s Security Chief Stopped Secret US/German ?Suicide Mission? to Rescue Pirate Hostages | USNI Blog