1 - The Black Vault

OPERATION JUST CAUSE
The mission was, in short, to neutralize the PDF
while minimizing loss of life on both sides. The
campaign objectives included the removal of
Noriega, restructure of Panamanian security
forces, and realignment of Panama’s civil-m ilitary
relations that had become convoluted over the
years with dictatorial rule. General Stiner served
as the overall war-fighting commander, with the
7th Infantry Division, one brigade of the 82d Airborne
Division, one mechanized battalion from
the 5th Mechanized Division, a battalion-size task
force of Marines, and assets of the in-place 193d
Light Infantry Brigade (located at Howard AB)
committed to his task force. Air transportation for
the conventional forces included C-141s and C-
130s from MAC and assets of the 24th Compos -
ite Wing stationed at Howard AB. JSOTF forces
included the 75th Ranger Regiment, SEAL elements
from the Naval Special Warfare Group,
3d and 7th Special Forces Groups, and the 1st SOW.
In all, including support- and combat-supportdesignated
forces, more than 27,000 soldiers,
sailors, airmen, and marines were assigned to
the operation. 16
To accomplish the objectives of the operation,
assigned forces were organized into various task
forces and committed to specific targets within
Panama. Organized as Task Force Bayonet, the
193d Brigade was to seize and secure the Curundu-
Ancon Hill-Balboa areas by ground attack and
was to conduct an air assault against the PDF’s
5th Company, which was garrisoned at Fort
Amador. As a part of Task Force Bayonet, Task
Force Gator was task organized around the 4th of
the 6th Infantry (Mechanized) and was committed
to attacking Torrijos/Tocumen International Airport
at H hour. Included in Task Force Bayonet’s
tasking was the isolation and reduction of Noriega’s
headquarters, La Comandancia, located in
downtown Panama City. Task Force Red Tango,
consisting of one battalion of the 75th Ranger
Regiment, simultaneously would conduct an air
assault on the international airport as Task Force
Gator attacked from the ground. (H hour had
been selected early in the planning process as
0100 hours based primarily on the density of
traffic flow into Torrijos/Tocumen International
Airport.) The Marine battalion, reinforced with
one engineer battalion, formed Task Force Semper
Fi, and it was tasked to block the western approaches
to Panama City and to secure the strategic
Bridge of the Americas. Task Force Atlantic,
made up of the 4th of the 17th Infantry (Light)
and the 3d of the 504th Infantry (Assault), was to
isolate the city of Colon on the Atlantic seaboard,
neutralize the PDF’s 8th Company and its naval
company stationed there, protect Madden Dam,
and free a number of political prisoners at the
Renacer Prison located at Gamboa, midway across
the Isthus of Panama. 17
The remaining two battalions of the 75th
Ranger Regiment made up Task Force Red Romeo
and was committed to a parachute assault
on Rio Hato AB located to the west of Panama
City. The parachute assault would commence at
H hour, with a five-ship airlanding 35 minutes
later to infiltrate additional personnel and equipment.
(The five-ship airland formation was made
up of three MC-130E Combat Talons of the 8th
SOS and two SOLL II C-130Es of the 317th
TAW.) At Rio Hato AB, the PDF 6th and 7th
Infantry Companies were garrisoned in a barracks
complex to the southwest of the airfield.
The base also was located near Noriega’s coastal
vacation villa, a location that many US intelligence
sources considered Noriega’s preferred hiding
place. Other JSOTF units, organized as Task
Force Black, Task Force White, and Task Force
Blue, were tasked to attack other key targets at
H hour. JSOTF targets included a PDF patrol
craft in Balboa Harbor, a TV tower at Cerro Azul,
and neutralization of Paitilla Airfield, where
Noriega maintained a Lear Jet capable of taking
him to safety outside of Panama. An additional
on-call mission for the JSOTF was to mount operations
to capture Noriega or to rescue American
hostages, as required. 18
Forty-five minutes after Task Force Red
Tango’s drop on Torrijos/Tocumen International
Airport, a brigade task force from the 82d Airborne
Division, organized as Task Force Pacific,
would parachute on to the airfield. From there the
brigade would conduct helicopter air-assault operations
to neutralize Noriega’s Battalion 2000,
which was garrisoned at Fort Cimarron, attack the
1st Heavy Weapons Infantry Company at Tinajitas,
and engage the calvary squadron and special forces
elements located at Panama Viejo. Follow-on opera -
tions called for occupation of Panama City to restore
law and order, then movement to the interior
of Panama to neutralize PDF elements located
there. 19
Thus, when the hatred that was directed against
the United States by Noriega boiled over on the 16th
of December, a comprehensive plan was on the shelf,
and rehearsals had been conducted to validate it. Unlike
Operation Urgent Fury in 1983, there had been
sufficient time to complete the deliberate planning
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