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Top-left: USS Mesa Verda off the coast of Haiti. DEA photo. Top-right: USS Wasp of the coast of Hispaniola. DEA photo. Bottom-left: Many FAST agents assisted in developing DEA’s new Special Response Teams. DEA Photo. Bottom-right: The SRT program has developed safety-enhancing Bearcats, which have been deployed to DEA Field Divisions across the U.S. The SRT program uses tactical expertise gained during the FAST program. DEA Photo.
Beginning in 2007, FAST teams deployed beyond Afghanistan to Europe, South America, the Caribbean, and Africa, executing high-value target captures, training local forces, and interdicting drug shipments.
In 2009, FAST joined DEA's Airwing Tactical Helicopter Section aboard the USS Wasp during Operation Lost Horizon, intercepting air targets and disrupting cocaine flows from Venezuela to the Caribbean.
In 2011, FAST Team Charlie deployed to Honduras for an air-track interdiction with U.S. military and Honduran police. During the mission, a Honduran officer was shot; a FAST medic's lifesaving care was credited with saving him.
As U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan wound down, DEA shifted priorities toward non-battlefield missions, leading to FAST's disbandment in 2017. Many former FAST agents applied their combat-honed skills to DEA's Special Response Teams (SRTs), enhancing tactical capability in high-risk domestic operations.
The FAST program's record of courage, adaptability, and operational excellence remains one of the most storied chapters in DEA history, defined by elite training, close partnerships, and unwavering commitment in the face of extraordinary danger.