Sam Stone, please accept my sincere apologies for the quip about the Canadian Special Forces.
I’m in no position to question the contributions, readiness, or talents of any soldier who may well have a red bulleye painted on his forehead.
You’re one of the Board’s class acts. Take care, man.
Actually the correct answer is Airborne Ranger.
just where do you think the CIA recruits their serious heavy duty bad ass dudes? From those who have already proven themselves like Delta, Seals, etc.
There’s also the question of, which specific navy seal or CIA operative? The CIA op that later became the basis for Apocalypse Now’s Kurtz, for example, could be considered thoroughly formidable… They dropped him into the jungle of Vietnam, and he ended up with a fanatically loyal army of natives who led attacks into China itself, illegally of course.
And regarding the paintball scenario that whiteboy presents, I’d wager that me and my friends would stand a good chance against either squad. Paintball is a world apart from real combat, and soldiers from various armed forces that come out to the field expecting to dominate are regularly demolished 
I’ve been given understand that military forces frequently lose in paintball because they have been trained so thoroughly to avoid taking casualties where possible. Topnotch paintball teams have no such inhibitions, and are more willing to sacrifice team members to take positions or what have you.
Of course, this may be complete bullshit, but that would hardly distinguish it from anything else in this thread. 
RE: Canadian Snipers
For anyone interested in CIA operative training, read the book See No Evil by former operative Robert Baer. It’s pretty tough stuff, including, but not limited to, being able to assemble an AK 47 blindfolded, parachuting to specific points in the dead of the night, operating all types of vehicles, firing RPGs in the dark from moving vehicles, etc.
Of course, as he notes, a CIA operative will probably never use any of these skills.
Are you suggesting in the part of your post that I turned red that the events in Apocalypse Now were based on real events? I always thought Apocalypse Now was more-or-less Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness moved from turn-of-the-century Africa to the Vietnam (and Cambodia?) of the Sixties.
Anyway, I remember Kurtz and the guy played by President Sheen as Army Special Forces officers, not CIA guys . . . although I that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be in the CIA’s employ. It’s been quite a while since I saw that movie, and I could only hack my way through a couple pages of the book, so apologies if I’m wrong on any of this. Or if I misinterpreted what you meant.
Oh, and Daoloth, thanks for the book recommendation.
I just finished See No Evil. It was pretty good. There is also a giant article in TIME about the CIA’s Special Operations Group.
The OP is still BS, though.
I first became aware of the fact that Kurtz was based on a real person in… Ok, yeah, I admit it, an article in Stuff or Maxim, or one of those testosterone rags. A search on google afterwards brought up a bunch of stuff. No clue how reliable any of it is, but I’m guessing it can’t be far off of the truth.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/Arrtus/ciabase.htm
His full name is listed there, if you’d like to do further research. That was just the first thing that popped up in Google this time around. Also not sure, I guess, if the character truly was based on him or if it’s just a series of startling coincidences.
Neither a Navy Seal nor a CIA Operative is clearly simply number one, but chances are a randomly picked Navy Seal will be more prepared for serious combat, because that is part of their primary role.
But, Navy Seals are part of the Navy and the Navy’s primary role is combat oriented, while the CIA’s primary role is intelligence oriented. Navy Seals are one of the elite fighting groups and there are many organizations with elite fighting groups. Which is best can really come down to the individuals of a particular team, kind of like saying who is best at Olympic level wrestling or World Cup Football.
Within the CIA, there are many kinds of operatives, many of whom are not chosen with combat as being a primary purpose. However, there are special CIA Operatives who are chosen to be the best in combat.
Within the CIA Special Activities Division (SAD) there is a further specialized **Special Operations Group **(SOG). When recruiting members for CIA SAD/SOG, they frequently recruit ex-military personnel and veterans of military special operations units such as the Green Berets or Marine Force Recon.
The Maritime Branch of SAD/SOG will recruit from ex-SEALs and ex-Force Recon Marines.
So, a CIA Operative might be a long experienced Navy Seal who has undergone even more special training.
So neither is simply better than the other. Both are very competent at what they do and when the focus is combat oriented both will be very, very dangerous to the enemy.
John2525 welcome to SDMB be advised this thread is 11 years old(refered to as a zombie) and many folk aren’t around anymore.
I would hope the OP watched the noted documentary Burn Notice on the USA channel.
Now there’s an opportunity wasted. If they’d name it Special Operation Battalion or something like this, they could call themselves CIA SAD SOBs. Or SAD SODs if they’d gone with Special Operations Division.
Why is it that you can pick out the zombie-raiser by their post title? They always have one.
A few thoughts on this: first, SEALS are badass, no denying it. They’re warriors who are trained and conditioned to always keep going and to get whatever specialized mission that they have done. If I had to fight my way out of a village packed full of armed hostiles, I’d want a group of SEALS protecting my six. Hands down.
That being said, the CIA is, well, the CIA. They’re thinkers. They take a problem, and come up with a solution. That solution could be based on deception, or even brute force. They have every available resource imaginable at their disposal. And they know how to use people. This is an important point. A SEAL will gladly put one through a bad guys head. Bad guy isn’t a problem any longer. A CIA operative? He’ll break the guy. He’ll dig up dirt, deceive, and manipulate him until he owns him. Until the guy feels as though he owes his very existence to the guy. Because at any time he can be killed. His secrets can be released. He can suffer. A SEAL is respectable and duty bound. They have strict roe’s (just look at the Lone Survivor movie/book). The CIA operative? He’ll use your family. He’ll use your friends. He’ll use your neighbor.
So overall I vote CIA. But the parameters are so ill defined it hardly matters. Because the CIA employs thousands of people, and spend billions a year on projects. An analyst isn’t exactly a clandestine operative.
Final food for thought: the CIA has something called the Special Activities Division. Within they have a paramilitary wing called the Special Operations Group. These men are handpicked seals, delta, and recon men. The best of the best. With much better support behind them then seals often have. Then again, the CIA cares deeply about saving face. And they won’t always come after you when shit gets heavy. In their defense they do warn you about this, however.
Right on!!!
And all these bad ass special forces is why we conquered and held Iraq and Afghanistan, defended South Vietnam from communism and did not have to fight to a draw in Korea. Hoo-Hah! And defeated German and Japanese fascism as well!
Never mind that in the WWII wins special forces were trivial and in the Korea draw not a big deal either.
In real life, most Special Operations warriors don’t look anything like Rambo.
Richard Marchincko, the founder of SEAL TEAM SIX specifically said in his autobiography that guys built like that always washed out real quickly.
They’re far more concerned with endurance, brains, and mental toughness than looking like a linebacker or an action movie star.
I’m pretty sure that’s true with the Green Berets, Spetznaz and just about all other special units throughout the world.
As to the original question, unless the CIA operatives somehow have the drop on them, the SEAL wins, but meaning no disrespect to the OP, but in the real world there’s no such thing as a fair fight so such questions make no sense.
One kid with a rocket can easily shoot down a helicopter full of SEALs, SAS troopers, or Delta operators.
Probably Sayeret Matkal. And it is hard to say which is better, since there are never any apples to apples comparison situations. And I do get caught by zombie threads too often.
The groups have different missions. I don’t think it’s comparing apples to oranges, it’s more like comparing tomatoes to suspension bridges. And I imagine if the CIA does need some heavy duty military types, they can easily have some Special Forces, Marine Recon, Navy Seals, Delta Forces, etc. seconded to them. And those military groups probably get some of their mission intel from the CIA.