The FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) is the counter-terrorism and hostage rescue unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The HRT is trained to rescue American citizens and allies who are held by hostile forces, usually terrorists and/or criminals. The Hostage Rescue Team was founded in 1982 by Danny Coulson, former Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI, and completed its final certification exercise in October 1983. The HRT's purpose is to serve as a domestic counter-terrorism unit, offering a tactical resolution option in hostage and high-risk law enforcement situations. It was originally composed of 50 operators. However, this number has since increased to well over 90 full-time operators. The HRT commonly functions as a national SWAT team in highly sensitive or dangerous situations. Today, it is part of the Tactical Support Branch of the FBI's Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) and is based at the FBI Academy at the Quantico Marine Corps Base, in Stafford County, Virginia. The HRT was originally conceived during the late 1970s and was set up after FBI director William H. Webster witnessed a demonstration by the U.S. Army's Delta Force.[when?] When Webster reviewed the equipment used by the Delta Force and noticed there were no handcuffs, he inquired about it. An operator grimly replied, "We put two rounds in their forehead. The dead don't need handcuffs."[6] The HRT was originally to be an augmented SWAT and counter-terrorist team, capable of handling extraordinary hostage situations, large-scale counter-terrorist operations, situations involving nuclear or biological agents, or operations that local law enforcement or the regional FBI field office were not trained or equipped to handle. Final approval for the HRT was given in early 1982, and formal planning began in March that year. The initial HRT selection course was held in June 1982 and consisted of three groups of 30 candidates each. Most candidates were experienced SWAT team members. Of this group, 50 candidates were selected to continue to more advanced training. Upon completing its initial selection, the newly formed HRT began acquiring the equipment it considered necessary and upgrading training facilities at Quantico. One of its first projects was the construction of a "shoot house", built entirely out of old tires, to allow the team to conduct live-fire training exercises. The final touches were added to the facilities just before Thanksgiving 1982 and, after a short holiday break, the team began its initial training program. After receiving tactical SWAT instruction, each individual was given expertise to research, such as explosives and door breaching tactics. Each operator also served as a liaison to one of the existing elite counter-terrorism teams from around the world. As part of their liaison duties, the men attended training exercises held by their assigned counter-terrorism unit and shared their experiences with the team. The team spent most of January 1983 honing their shooting and tactical skills at Quantico, and then traveled to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in February for a month of training and instruction with the US Army's Delta Force. The team returned to Quantico for further training. It became operational in August 1983.[7] The team's final certification exercise, code-named Operation Equus Red, was held in October 1983 at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. During the exercise, the HRT, a local SWAT team, and a United States Department of Energy Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST) were tasked with assaulting a terrorist stronghold. The "terrorist" group was also believed to be in possession of a simulated nuclear device, which was at a separate location and had to be recovered or neutralized. After the NEST aircraft confirmed the location of the device, HRT operators infiltrated the terrorist safe house, secured the device, and managed to "kill" the terrorist involved in approximately 30 seconds. The FBI's senior leadership viewed the exercise as a complete success and granted final approval for the team to become fully operational.[7] Upon completion of the certification exercise, the HRT began to expand its capabilities by sending small teams of operators out for more specialized training courses. Approximately a dozen operators visited Naval Amphibious Base Coronado to receive combat diver, maritime operations, and tactics (such as visit, board, search, and seizure—VBSS) training from the United States Navy SEALs. Other team members conducted helicopter operations and aerial insertion training with the US Army's Task Force 160. Every operator also received 80 hours of medical training. The HRT traveled to Camp Peary, near Williamsburg, Virginia, for counter-terrorism training courses to develop skills in breaching barricades, running roadblocks, and defensive driving.[7] Over time, HRT operators studied with the U.S. military, along with local, federal, and foreign tactical teams, and attended private courses to learn more about air assault tactics, rappelling, close quarters combat, chemical agents, terrorist psychology, surveillance methods, sniping/counter-sniping, communications and more. Tactics learned during training were shared with the team. Eventually, for close quarter battle training, the HRT decided to make things more realistic on advice from SEAL Team Six (later known as the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group or DEVGRU) commander Richard Marcinko, and the HRT introduced blood bags and wax bullets. The wax bullets were used for team-versus-team drills.[6] The HRT became part of the Critical Incident Response Group upon its formation in 1994, due to the need to consolidate the assets necessary to respond to a critical incident in one group. Since being added to Critical Incident response group, HRT has been used to conduct law enforcement operations and counterterrorism operations globally, often deploying with military special operations forces and intelligence units..

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