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Special Intervention Group | |
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Gruppo di Intervento Speciale | |
![]() Gruppo di Intervento Speciale oficial insignia | |
Active | 6 February 1978 – present [1] |
Country | Italy |
Branch | Carabinieri |
Type | Police tactical unit |
Size | At least 100 |
Part of | 2nd Carabinieri Mobile Brigade (logistics and administration) Comando interforze per le Operazioni delle Forze Speciali |
Garrison/HQ | Livorno |
Nickname(s) | Teste di cuoio ("Leatherheads") |
Motto(s) | Nei secoli fedele ("Faithful through the centuries") Silenziosi come la notte veloci come la folgore ("As silent as the night, as fast as the lightning") |
Colors | Black and Red |
Engagements |
|
Commanders | |
Current commander | Colonel Gianluca Feroce |
The Gruppo di Intervento Speciale (GIS) ("Special Intervention Group") is the special forces unit of the Carabinieri. The Carabinieri, a branch of the Italian Armed Forces responsible for both military and civil policing, formed GIS in 1978 as a police tactical unit. [1] In 2004, GIS assumed a special operations role, evolving to a special forces unit, in addition to the police tactical unit role, becoming part of the Comando interforze per le Operazioni delle Forze Speciali (COFS, 'Joint Special Forces Operational Headquarters'). [1] [2]
The unit has taken part in counter-terrorism operations and VIP, executive and dignitary protection security. Since its inception, GIS has distinguished itself throughout Italy for efficiency and excellent preparation, and has also operated and operates in several theatres of war including the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa, as well as in all the countries where Italian diplomatic offices are at risk.
In Italy, GIS is one of three police tactical units that can operate throughout the country, the other two being Nucleo Operativo Centrale di Sicurezza (NOCS) of the Polizia di Stato and Antiterrorismo Pronto Impiego (ATPI) of the Guardia di Finanza.
The Special Intervention Group is employed in high-risk special actions against terrorism. The GIS specializes in hostage rescue, prioritizing their physical safety, in the reconquest of vital targets and facilities held by terrorists, in resolutive intervention against hijacking, and in intervention in environments featuring NBCR dangers. [3]
The Special Intervention Group ensures the permanent availability of personnel to the Ministry of the Interior for immediate deployments. The Ministry of the Interior employs the GIS for the release of hostages from airplanes, ships, trains, buses and buildings. It also calls them to protect sensitive targets from terrorist or criminal attacks and to ensure surveillance and security at high-risk events (in coordination with Public Security authorities). [3]
Aside from the permanent availability ensured to the Interior Ministry, the GIS is used by the General Command of the Carabinieri to guarantee the security of threatened personalities or to assist territorial units in crisis situations such as kidnapping and capturing criminals, fugitives or dangerous evades. The GIS also trains and certifies other Carabinieri assigned to escort duties, and provides security services to important persons. [3]
The GIS is also deployed abroad, to perform foreign hostage-rescue operations, to protect Italian embassies and consulates in highly dangerous situations, as well as for special intervention in Carabinieri deployments and operations abroad. [3]
Occasionally they are also in charge of training foreign police personnel.
In 2004, [4] GIS became a special forces unit responsible for special operations, including direct action, special reconnaissance, military assistance and counter-terrorism, part of Comando interforze per le Operazioni delle Forze Speciali (COFS) of the Armed Forces, in addition to its civilian police tactical unit role. [2] GIS can deploy overseas for special operations if requested by COFS. In 2015, laws were changed to permit the Italian foreign intelligence service Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (AISE) to use GIS for individual missions. [5]
During the seventies of the last century (the so-called years of lead) the Italian political and civil institutions suffered a violent assault by endemic terrorist groups. Although the Government had not taken any official initiatives, units were set up in the elite units of the Armed Forces and Police for the development and experimentation of intervention techniques in crisis situations in the presence of hostages.
On 18 October 1977, the political will changed as a result of the success of Operation Feuerzauber (Magic Fire) conducted by the Germans of the GSG-9 that in Somalia succeeded in freeing 86 passengers and 3 crew members of the Lufthansa 181 flight hijacked and still in the hand of terrorists. Feasibility studies were immediately carried out.
Following this action, interior minister Francesco Cossiga on 6 January 1978 ordered the creation of the UN.I.S. (Unità di Intervento Speciale, Italian for "Special Intervention Units"), [6] in order to support anti-terrorism investigations.
In a feasibility study conducted on 24 October 1977, the Carabinieri foresaw the establishment of the Special Intervention Group within the Battalion "Tuscania", in order to enable the Group to act both framed the larger Battalion and alone. [7]
The Special Intervention Group was the first to be officially established on 6 February 1978 by the General Command of the Carabinieri, [1] within the then-Battalion "Tuscania". This unit of the Carabinieri could act both in civil and public order and in the military sphere. The Special Intervention Group was made operationally autonomous, administratively part of the Battalion and logistically supported by the Folgore Brigade. [7]
By December 1981, the Special Intervention Group reached its full operational capability. [8]
The public debut of the GIS took place in Trani on 29 December 1980. In the prison, a revolt led by terrorists broke out. On the building, helicopters began to whirl, from which masked men quickly fell down. They regained control of the prison in a few minutes despite the many gates welded by the rebels to hinder an intervention from outside.
In the following years, the GIS expanded its tasks: in December 1988 the Group, on the proposal of its own commander, was tasked with prevention and counter-sabotage activities, as well as with the support of the Carabinieri territorial organization, sensitive targets surveillance, and high-risk interventions and round-ups against organised crime. [9]
In 1994, the tasks of the Group were further expanded, including support for the capture of prominent fugitives, in anti-drug operations and in operations aimed at executing orders of the judicial authorities in the presence of environmental characteristics that entail considerable difficulties in execution. An underwater component was also set established and the use of the unit in support of the Italian embassies at risk was also approved. [10]
The GIS, because of the minor terrorist emergency, since 2000, has operated mainly in the military, and since 26 November 2004, it has been part of the Special Forces, along with COMSUBIN, 9th Paratroopers Assault Regiment and the 17º Stormo Incursori. [10] [11]
The decision of converting the GIS into a special forces unit was taken as a consequence of the large overseas deployment of its operators, which distinguished themselves for competence and resolution in various scenarios of war. Already after its creation, the group operated alongside Italian troops in Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War, and since that moment they become an important part of the Italian military actions around the globe.
The GIS headquarters is in Livorno.
The exact number of operating personnel is confidential information, but the Group is organized at a company level.
The GIS is divided into:
The largest combat section, in turn, is divided into three detachments consisting of teams of four men: a commander, an explosive specialist, a climbing specialist and an equipment specialist.
At any moment there is a detachment ready to leave the base in 30 minutes. For this purpose, there are always some Agusta-Bell AB 412 supplied with the Carabinieri and a 46th Air Force Aircraft of the Air Force that is located in nearby Pisa, which can supply the C-130 Hercules when needed. The remaining can be used within three and twenty-four hours of the alarm. In the most urgent cases, an advanced core precedes the operating section in order to plan the intervention strategy based on first-hand information.
The exploration, reconnaissance and scouting section is in turn made up of teams of three men: two fighters armed with Mauser 86 SR and an explorer equipped with a semiautomatic HK PSG-1. During longer actions, men can become the explorer.
As of late 2018, the Special Intervention Group has been involved in more than 600 special operations: [12] [13]
GIS has been involved in various multinational operations, both war and peacekeeping, since its creation. What follows is a list of confirmed operations in which GIS operators took part.
Being an elite unit, the path that candidates have to make to access it is particularly hard and selective from the first phase which includes interviews and psycho-physical visits.
The competition announcement (interpellation in jargon) was opened, in 2011, to members of the Carabinieri who are no more than 33 years old. It is therefore no longer an indispensable condition to be of the 1st Paratroopers Carabinieri Regiment "Tuscania".
The course is called "G.I.S. operator with the military patent of raider", because at the end of the training process the military receives the military patent of raider, as happens in the other three Italian Special Forces already mentioned.
The carabinieri who apply are sent to the 1st Tuscania Regiment. The first selection phase for the GIS involves an interview with a senior GIS officer who verifies motivation, a key element in becoming part of the department, followed by an examination by psychologists and medical doctors. This first selection is passed by 40 per cent of the candidates.
The survivors then begin a very hard training process for the patent of Paracadutisti at the Tuscania of about nine months duration (this training is almost identical to the one carried out by the 1st Paratroopers Carabinieri Regiment "Tuscania", therefore those who come from the latter are directly introduced to the second phase, namely the specialized one for the GIS).
The course includes:
The carabinieri who finish the training period cited, about 30 per cent of the initial candidates, are admitted to the 45-week course divided into a Basic Course of 18 weeks (exceeded by more than 50 per cent of candidates) and to a 27-week "Specialized Course". Only at this point does the soldier become operational and an effective member of the department.
Once part of GIS, training is daily and their skills are perfected with further courses:
Finally, there are ongoing collaborative relationships with military departments, including foreign ones. In fact, other courses are held abroad by the International Special Training Center—ISTC in Pfullendorf, Germany, the NATO Special Forces school, and various joint exercises with the colleagues of the SF and Antiterrorism (SAS —Great Britain, SWAT —USA, GSG9—Germany, GIGN—France) of other countries.
GIS has very good relations with other top class CT units in the world, among these are Great Britain's SAS, Ireland's ARW & ERU, Spain's GEO and UEI, France's GIGN, United States's Hostage Rescue Team, Germany's GSG 9 and SEK, Belgium's ESI, Austria's EKO Cobra and the Netherlands's DSI. [34] [35]
The uniform utilized by this elite force is normally the dark blue, even though mimetic and desert variations exist. Its reinforcements such as helmets, knee pads, elbow pads or bulletproof jackets are composed of fireproof and insulating materials.
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