Secret Service Counter Assault Team

Before 1979, Secret Service vehicle convoys for VIPs in high-risk situations included a large sedan known as the "muscle car" in which five or six Secret Service special agents armed with sub-machine guns rode. The "muscle car" team was an ad hoc contingent drawn from special agents working at a local Secret Service office, as opposed to those regularly assigned to protective duties. They were instructed, in the event of an attack against the convoy, to lay down a barrage of suppressive fire against the source of the attack so as to allow the dignitary's vehicle the opportunity to escape without being pursued or blockaded.{{cite book|last1=Emmett|first1=Dan|title=Within Arm's Length: A Secret Service Agent's Definitive Inside Account of Protecting the President|date=2014|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-1250044716|pages=102–110|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNTGAwAAQBAJ|access-date=2016-11-29|archive-date=2023-04-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412210026/https://books.google.com/books?id=eNTGAwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last1=Kessler|first1=Ronald|title=The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents|date=2014|publisher=Crown|isbn=978-0804139229}}{{cite book|last=Kessler |first=Ronald |title=In the President's Secret Service : behind the scenes with agents in the line of fire and the presidents they protect |date=2009 |publisher=Crown |location=New York |isbn=978-0307-46135-3 |url={{Google books|kyGTagqcyAcC|page=PA65|plainurl=yes}}|pages=65-68}}

In 1979, the Secret Service formalized the counter-assault team program with permanently assigned, specially trained operators.

File:Counter Assault Team member at Rowley Training Center in 2018.jpg in 2018]]

Following the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981, a CAT that came to be designated "Hawkeye" was assigned to full-time presidential escort duty.

In 2012, special agents assigned to Hawkeye were implicated in the Summit of the Americas prostitution scandal.{{cite news|last1=Ambinder|first1=Marc|title=The Secret Service has a drinking problem|url=http://theweek.com/articles/448684/secret-service-drinking-problem|accessdate=28 November 2016|work=The Week|date=26 March 2014|archive-date=28 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528232129/https://theweek.com/articles/448684/secret-service-drinking-problem|url-status=live}}

Members of the counter-assault team are Secret Service special agents who have completed an initial eight-month course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, and have successfully served several years in the Secret Service. Upon selection, CAT operators undergo an additional seven weeks of specialized training, including in counter-ambush tactics and close quarters combat. Applications to join the team are competitive, and physical requirements for entry include the demonstrated ability to do three pull-ups wearing a {{convert|45|lb|adj=on}} weighted vest and to complete a {{convert|1.5|mile|adj=on}} run in under nine minutes. Approximately ten percent of applicants are ultimately selected.{{cite news|last1=Nakamura|first1=David|title=Everything you need to know about CAT, the Secret Service's baddest bad boys|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/03/27/everything-you-need-to-know-about-cat-the-secret-services-baddest-bad-boys/#comments|accessdate=27 November 2016|newspaper=Washington Post|date=27 March 2014|archive-date=19 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319013711/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/03/27/everything-you-need-to-know-about-cat-the-secret-services-baddest-bad-boys/#comments|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=JJRTC – James J. Rowley Training Center|url=http://www.secretservice.gov/join/training/training_rowley/|website=secretservice.gov|publisher=U.S. Secret Service|accessdate=28 November 2016|archive-date=29 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129083056/http://www.secretservice.gov/join/training/training_rowley/|url-status=live}}

File:USSS_CAT_Bush.jpg with the Counter Assault Team in the vehicle in bottom right]]

Typically, CAT members deploy in black battle dress uniforms. Each member not otherwise assigned a heavier weapon is equipped with a SR-16 rifle, a SIG Sauer P229 pistol, and flash-bang grenades.

CAT operates both as part of motorcades and at fixed sites. In the event a VIP, the VIP's vehicle, or a protected site is attacked by multiple assailants, CAT is responsible for engaging and diverting the attackers, thereby buying the close protection shift time to evacuate the dignitary to a safe area.

Hawkeye, when operating as part of a U.S. president's motorcade, travels in a vehicle several car lengths behind the presidential state car.{{cite news|title=The Presidential Motorcade|work=The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2011/02/the-presidential-motorcade/70681/|accessdate=28 November 2016|date=8 February 2011|archive-date=11 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511205059/http://www.theatlantic.com/video/archive/2011/02/the-presidential-motorcade/70681/|url-status=live}}

• FBI Hostage Rescue Team
• DSS Mobile Security Deployments

{{clear}}

{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Police tactical units

Category:Government agencies established in 1979

Counter-Assault Team

Category:1979 establishments in the United States