Direct action (military)

In the context of military special operations, direct action (DA) consists of: "Short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and which employ specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage designated targets. Direct action differs from conventional offensive actions in the level of physical and political risk, operational techniques, and the degree of discriminate and precise use of force to achieve specific objectives."

The US and many allied countries consider DA one of the basic special operations missions. Some units specialize in it, such as the 75th Ranger Regiment, while other units, such as United States Army Special Forces, have DA capabilities but focus more on other operations. While Special Forces was originally created for the unconventional warfare (UW) mission and gradually added other capabilities, the United States Navy SEALs teams, and the UK Special Air Service and Special Boat Service, had DA and special reconnaissance (SR) as original missions. SEALs, SAS, and SBS added additional capabilities. Soviet, now Russian, spetsnaz are DA and SR units.

Some countries may have standing units for deniable direct action, and others may put together ad hoc volunteer groups for such missions. Under the US Central Intelligence Agency's National Clandestine Service, there is a Special Activities Division that operates without apparent national identification. It is possible that units of the Joint Special Operations Command or the frequently-renamed Intelligence Support Activity may do ad hoc operations.

In some cases, which international law accepts as a legitimate "ruse of war," a direct action force may infiltrate to the target area in civilian clothes, but must make some distinguishing insignia visible before taking any combat actions. Had the hostage rescue force in Operation Eagle Claw actually moved into Tehran, they would have worn dark, nondescript clothing with American insignia under black tape. Before taking any combat action, they were to remove the tape.