FORT BRAGG, N.C. – The raid to grab Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan took just under 40 minutes — roughly 10 to get to bin Laden.
Special operators spent much of the rest of the time gathering evidence: computer files, written notes and thumb drives that pointed to new al-Qaida plots and previously secret operatives around the globe.
That science is what special operators of all types are learning at Fort Bragg’s Special Warfare Center, with real-life scenarios meant to shock — and teach.
In one exercise, a Hollywood-style explosion leaves the remains of a fake suicide bomber scattered around a checkpoint.
The students must look past the grisly mess for the evidence that could lead to those who built the bomb.
Forging lessons painfully learned in the decade since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the formal curriculum is intended to help elite military units track militants across international boundaries and work alongside sometimes competing U.S. agencies.
The coursework is similar to the CIA’s legendary spycraft training center called The Farm, and is at the brainchild of Green Beret Maj. Gen. Bennet Sacolick, a veteran of elite special operations units and a long stint on loan to the CIA.
Among the students at the CIA-approved Fort Bragg
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