Tier 1 Group formally known as Aggressive Training Solutions is an American private military company, founded by retired Marine Steve Reichert in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Tier 1 Group provides marksmanship training, military tactical training, tactical driving/mobility training, breaching training, tactical medical training, and law enforcement training in and outside the U.S.
Tier 1 Group is owned and funded by Cerberus Capital Management which also owns Remington Arms, Bushmaster Firearms International, LLC, Inc., and DPMS Panther Arms among other companies. Tier 1 Group was formed in 2006.
After efforts by Tier 1 Group to purchase land in Jones County, North Carolina [1] [2] to be used for a firing range and training facility, Jones County Commissioners passed an ordinance on January 25, 2008 to regulate commercial shooting ranges in the county. On February 1, 2008 Tier 1 Group filed a request to get 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) rezoned in the Bentonville Township in Johnston County, North Carolina. Eventually purchasing land in Arkansas.
In June 2021, the New York Times reported that four Saudi operatives involved in the October 2018 kidnapping and murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi had received paramilitary training from Tier 1 Group in 2017. [3] The training, approved by the United States Department of State, included "safe marksmanship" and "countering an attack." Representatives of T1G stated the training was "protective in nature" and that the group was unaware of the Saudis' intentions to murder Khashoggi.
The Saudi Arabian Armed Forces (SAAF), also known as the Royal Saudi Armed Forces, is part of the military forces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It consists of the Royal Saudi Army, the Royal Saudi Navy, the Royal Saudi Air Force, the Royal Saudi Air Defense, and the Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force. The King of Saudi Arabia is the commander-in-chief of all the military forces and forms military policy with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior. The five Armed Forces are among eight military forces of Saudi Arabia, with the others including the Royal Saudi National Guard, the Royal Saudi Guard Regiment and the Royal Saudi Border Guards.
GSG 9 der Bundespolizei, formerly Grenzschutzgruppe 9, is the police tactical unit of the German Federal Police (Bundespolizei). The unit is responsible for combatting terrorism and violent crime, including organized crime. In addition to its headquarters location in Sankt Augustin-Hangelar near Bonn, it also has a base in Berlin. Since 1 August 2017, it has been subordinate to the Federal Police Directorate 11. The state police (Landespolizei) maintain their own regional tactical units known as the Spezialeinsatzkommando (SEK).
Walter Beaman Jones Jr. was an American politician who served twelve terms in the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Republican Party for North Carolina's 3rd congressional district from 1995 until his death in 2019. The district encompassed the coastal regions of North Carolina, from the Outer Banks and areas near the Pamlico Sound in the north, southwards to the northern suburbs of Wilmington. Jones's father was Walter B. Jones Sr., a Democratic Party congressman from the neighboring 1st district. Prior to his election to the U.S. House of Representatives, he served ten years in the North Carolina House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party and worked as a business executive.
Adnan Khashoggi was a Saudi businessman and arms dealer known for his business dealings, extensive geopolitical influence, and opulent lifestyle, which earned him the moniker "The Great Gatsby of the Middle East." During his peak in the early 1980s, Khashoggi's net worth was estimated at around $4 billion, amassed through his pivotal role as an intermediary between Western defense companies and the Saudi government.
Marine Corps Air Station New River is a United States Marine Corps helicopter and tilt-rotor base in Jacksonville, North Carolina, in the eastern part of the state. In 1972, the airfield was named McCutcheon Field for General Keith B. McCutcheon, one of the fathers of Marine Corps helicopter aviation. Near Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, it shares some facilities with Camp Geiger.
Camp Perry is a National Guard training facility located on the shore of Lake Erie in northern Ohio near Port Clinton. In addition to its regular mission as a military training base, Camp Perry also boasts the second largest outdoor rifle range in the world after the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico. The firing is done in the direction of the open water of the lake, that lies just beyond an earthen berm and the targets.
Ulster Resistance (UR), or the Ulster Resistance Movement (URM), is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary movement established by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland in November 1986 in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Jamal Ahmad Hamza Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist, dissident, author, columnist for Middle East Eye and The Washington Post, and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel who was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 by agents of the Saudi government at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The Special Actions Detachment or DAE is the tier one special force maritime unit of the Portuguese Navy. It is part of the Portuguese Marine Corps. Raised in 1985, the DAE is one of the smallest special forces units within the Portuguese Armed Forces. It is responsible for conducting air-sea rescue, amphibious reconnaissance, amphibious warfare, black operation, bomb disposal, CBRN defense, coastal raiding, counterterrorism, direct action, executive protection, hostage rescue, irregular warfare, ISTAR, long-range penetration, JTAC, manhunt high-value target, maritime sabotage, mountain rescue, naval boarding, operation behind high risk enemy lines, special operations, special reconnaissance, tracking targets, underwater demolition, unconventional warfare, other missions in support of Portuguese and NATO armed forces. DAE's mission and training are similar to their American counterparts DEVGRU and the British SBS. DAE often trains with them alongside other SMU counter-terror units.
The Special Missions Training Center (SMTC), also known as Joint Maritime Training Center (JMTC), is a joint United States Coast Guard, Navy, and Marine Corps training facility located on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States began in 1933 when full diplomatic relations were established. These relations were formalized under the 1951 Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement. Despite the differences between the two countries—an Islamic absolute monarchy versus a secular constitutional republic—the two countries have been allies ever since. The U.S. provides military protection to the Kingdom in exchange for a reliable oil supply, pricing of oil in U.S. dollars, and support for American foreign policy.
WERO is a contemporary hit radio music formatted radio station for Eastern North Carolina licensed to Washington, North Carolina, US, targeting the Greenville, North Carolina, and Eastern North Carolina areas.
According to the British government, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have long been close allies. Relations between the two countries date back to 1848, when Faisal bin Turki, ruler of the Second Saudi state, formally requested the support of the British Political Resident in Bushire for his representative in Trucial Oman.
Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, also known as MBS or MbS, is the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, formally serving as Crown Prince and Prime Minister. He is the heir apparent to the Saudi throne, the seventh son of King Salman of Saudi Arabia, and the grandson of the nation's founder, Ibn Saud.
Major General Ahmad Hassan Mohammad Asiri is a Saudi Arabian military officer. He is a close confidant and adviser to Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and the former deputy head of the General Intelligence Presidency. He was also the former spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, a position he served from the beginning of the Saudi intervention until 27 July 2017, when he was replaced by Colonel Turki bin Saleh al-Malki.
The Down East Wood Ducks were a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. They were located in Kinston, North Carolina, and are named for the wood duck, a colorful local waterfowl. Established in 2017, the team played its home games at Grainger Stadium, which opened in 1949 and holds 4,100 people.
Timber Sycamore was a classified weapons supply and training program run by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and supported by the United Kingdom and some Arab intelligence services, including Saudi intelligence. The aim of the program was to remove Syrian president Bashar al-Assad from power. Launched in 2012 or 2013, it supplied money, weaponry and training to Syrian opposition groups fighting Syrian government forces in the Syrian Civil War. According to US officials, the program was run by the CIA's Special Activities Division and has trained thousands of rebels. President Barack Obama secretly authorized the CIA to begin arming Syria's embattled rebels in 2013. The program became public knowledge in mid-2016.
Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud is a Saudi Arabian diplomat and politician who serves as the Saudi Arabian Minister of Defense. He was appointed Defense Minister on 27 September 2022. He is a grandson of the founder of Saudi Arabia King Abdulaziz, the tenth child and ninth son of King Salman, and a younger brother of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman.
On 2 October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident journalist, was killed by agents of the Saudi government at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Khashoggi was ambushed and strangled by a 15-member squad of Saudi operatives. His body was dismembered and disposed of in some way that was never publicly revealed. The consulate had been secretly bugged by the Turkish government and Khashoggi's final moments were captured in audio recordings, transcripts of which were subsequently made public.
The Tiger Squad, also known as UNIT 1103, and officially called the Rapid Intervention Force, is a military unit under the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. According to an unnamed source interviewed by the London-based online news outlet Middle East Eye following the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 and a BBC source inside Saudi Arabia who has a relative in the squad, it is a Saudi team that consists of approximately one-hundred fifty Saudi officers.