The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting small-unit special operation missions in maritime, jungle, urban, arctic, mountainous, and desert environments. SEALs are typically ordered to capture or kill high level targets, or to gather intelligence behind enemy lines. SEAL team personnel are hand selected, highly trained, and possess a high degree of proficiency in direct action (DA), and special reconnaissance (SR), among other tasks like sabotage, demolition, intelligence gathering, and hydro-graphic reconnaissance, training, and advising friendly militaries or other forces.
The United States Naval Special Warfare Command (USNSWC), also known as, is the naval component of United States Special Operations Command, the unified command responsible for overseeing and conducting the nation's special operations and missions.
Albert Melrose Calland III was a vice admiral in the United States Navy who was the deputy director for Strategic Operational Planning at the National Counterterrorism Center and commander of Naval Special Warfare Command from 2002 to 2004. He also previously served as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from July 2005 to July 2006 and commanded the Naval Special Warfare Development Group from 1997 to 1999.
Joseph Devereux Kernan is a retired United States Navy vice admiral and the former under secretary of defense for intelligence. His last military assignment was serving as the military deputy commander of the United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), Miami, Florida, from May 23, 2011, to September 2013. He was the second-in-command of one of nine unified commands under the Department of Defense.
Eric Thor Olson is a retired United States Navy admiral who last served as the eighth Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) from July 2, 2007 to August 8, 2011. He previously served as Deputy Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command from 2003 to July 2007. Olson was the first Navy SEAL ever to be appointed to three-star and four-star flag rank, as well as the first naval officer to be USSOCOM's combatant commander. He took command from Army General Bryan D. Brown in 2007. Brown and Olson had served together at the SOCOM headquarters in Tampa for four years. He retired from active duty on August 22, 2011 after over 38 years of service. He relinquished command of SOCOM to Admiral William H. McRaven the same day.
Robert Stiles Harward, Jr., known as Bob Harward, is a retired United States Navy SEAL and a former Deputy Commander of the United States Central Command, under the leadership command of General James Mattis. After working as a Chief Executive at Lockheed Martin for eight years, he joined Shield AI as Executive Vice President for International Business and Strategy. He also served as the Deputy Commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command and previously commanded Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435.
Thomas L. Brown II was a retired United States Navy officer and the first Navy officer to command Special Operations Command South, based in Homestead Joint Air Reserve Base, Florida.
Brian Lee Losey is a retired rear admiral of the United States Navy. He headed the Naval Special Warfare Command from 2013 until his retirement in 2016. Losey is a native of Tacoma, Washington.
Scott P. Moore, is a retired Rear Admiral of the United States Navy. Moore is a former member of SEAL Team TWO and previously served as commanding officer of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group from 2007 to 2009. He is an Admiral Circle member for the exhibit SEAL: The Unspoken Sacrifice. He is active in the Navy SEAL Foundation.
Timothy Gerard "Tim" Szymanski is a retired United States Navy vice admiral who last served as deputy commander of United States Special Operations Command from October 15, 2018 to December 2021. He is the former commander of United States Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, California.
Edward G. Winters III is a retired United States Navy rear admiral who commanded the Naval Special Warfare Command from Sept. 2008 to June 2011. He also previously served as commanding officer of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group from 2003 to 2005.
Raymond Charles Smith Jr. was a United States Navy rear admiral who commanded the Naval Special Warfare Command from 1992 to 1996.
Alexander L. Krongard, is a retired United States Navy SEAL. He retired from the United States Navy as a rear admiral in 2016 after 31 years of military service. He served as the Deputy Commander of United States Africa Command and previously commanded Naval Special Warfare Group ONE.
Thomas R. Richards is a retired United States Navy rear admiral who commanded the Naval Special Warfare Command from 1996 to 1999.
Keith Bently Davids is an American United States Navy special warfare officer with the rank of Rear Admiral. He has served as the commander of Naval Special Warfare Command since August 19, 2022. He was the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command South, United States Southern Command from 2020 to 2022. Previously, he served as director of the White House Military Office during the Presidency of Donald Trump. Earlier in his career, he was commanding officer of the Naval Special Warfare Center and SEAL Team One.
Colin James Kilrain is a retired United States Navy vice admiral who last served as the assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 20, 2021 to February 2023. He previously served as the associate director for military affairs (ADMA) for the Central Intelligence Agency from 2019 to 2021. He is the former commander of Special Operations Command Pacific and Naval Special Warfare Group Two.
Milton James "Jamie" Sands III is a United States Navy rear admiral and Navy SEAL who has served as the chief of staff of United States Special Operations Command since August 2023. He most recently served as the commander of Special Operations Command Africa from July 1, 2021 to July 21, 2023. Prior to that he served as commander of the Naval Service Training Command from April 25, 2019 to May 27, 2021. Prior to that, he served as vice president of the Joint Special Operations University from 2018 to 2019, with prior tours as commodore of Naval Special Warfare Group 2 from 2016 to 2018 and commander of Seal Team 8.
Peter Gerard Vasely is a United States Navy rear admiral who serves as deputy director for future joint force development of the Joint Staff since June 3, 2022. He served as a special assistant to the Director of the Navy Staff from November 4, 2021 to June 3, 2022. Before that, he served as the Director of Operations of the Defense Intelligence Agency from November 2019 to 2021 and then as the Commander of Special Operations Joint Task Force–Afghanistan and NATO Special Operations Component Command–Afghanistan from May 17 to August 31, 2021. Vasely is a Navy SEAL officer and former member of SEAL Team ONE and Development Group.
Hugh W. Howard III is a retired United States Navy rear admiral who commanded the United States Naval Special Warfare Command from September 11, 2020 until August 19, 2022. He was previously the Commander of Special Operations Command Central from July 19, 2018, to July 20, 2020.
United States of America 
United States Navy 
Vice Admiral 
