Naval postgraduate school monterey, california thesis

particular course of action. It must be 
distinguishable
—each course of action must be 
significantly different from the others. Finally, it must be 
complete—
it must incorporate 
major operations and tasks to be accomplished, to include forces required, concept for 
sustainment, deployment, employment, time estimates for reaching termination 
objectives, reserve force concept, and desired end state.
2. 
Phase II: Approach and Assault 
The safe rescue of all the hostages means success for the operation. In order to 
accomplish this, each phase of the hostage rescue plan must be planned, rehearsed, and 
executed with surgical precision. The approach and assault phase of a rescue operation 
are the most volatile parts of the rescue attempt because the assault force must remain 
undetected in order to maintain the element of surprise. Once the assault begins, they 
must immediately neutralize the threat and control the hostages. 
During the approach, the rescue force must be ready to execute all contingency 
plans rehearsed as part of their emergency-deliberate plan of action, in case they become 
compromised. Full synergy of all command and control elements is required during the 
approach, in order to positively control the flow of forces into the target and deconflict 
from those already there (such as sniper-observer teams). The breach must be calculated 

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with exact precision to ensure the explosion will not hurt or kill any hostages inside, 
while at the same time allowing for a positive entry of the rescue force into the target.
Once inside, the rescue force must be quick, precise, and deliberate in their use of 
accurate and discriminate fires, while at the same time safeguarding any hostages 
encountered.
The rescue party must be ready to protect the hostages during the assault.
Initially, the effects of breaching, explosions, and firing will shock hostages; they will not 
know how to react, and sometimes they might even want to help by attacking some of the 
terrorists. Some hostages might be confused and want to stay behind in the comfort and 
security of what used to be their own “little world”. Others might want to go and retrieve 
some of their own personnel belongings before leaving the target site. All these factors 
complicate the mission of the assault force. For these reasons, all personnel inside the 
crisis site must be considered dangerous until properly identified by other authorities 
during Phase III.