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The Special Activities Division is a division of the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Operations responsible for covert paramilitary actions effected when the U.S. government does not wish to be associated with an operation. As such, members of the unit, when on missions, do not carry any objects or clothing (i.e. military uniforms) that would associate them with the United States. The CIA draws a dozen or so men and/or women (in fact, the division is one of the few U.S. Special Operations forces that employs women, apart from Delta Force's "Funny Platoon") into "Special Operations Groups" for each mission.
The division employs several hundred people, most of them former operators of Delta and SEAL teams, although, on occasion, they have been known to employ civilians for paramilitary activities. The division uses RQ-1_Predator drones equipped with high-resolution cameras and AGM-114_Hellfire antitank missiles as part of their wide arsenal. Johnny Micheal Spann, the first American casualty in the war in Afghanistan, was a member of the Special Activities Division. The division is known to be a major part of the U.S.'s unconventional war in Afghanistan, and it is suspected that they have played a role in the war in Iraq.
The Special Activities Division is also known as the Special Activities Staff, or SAS.
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