# SEAL Team Six attrition

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "SEAL Team Six attrition," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/seal-team-six-attrition/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's answer to the claim that the Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden have since been killed off: the dead came from the broader unit rather than the raid party, SEAL Team Six numbers several hundred men rather than the dozen or so people imagine, and losing a high number of them to accidents and combat is, in his phrase, very sadly common.*

SEAL Team Six attrition is John Kiriakou's response to a recurring claim that the Navy SEALs involved in the killing of [Osama bin Laden](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/osama-bin-laden) subsequently died in helicopter crashes and other accidents.

## Not unusual

Kiriakou's first point is a base rate. Deaths of this kind are actually not uncommon, he says, because being a Navy SEAL is one of the most dangerous professions in the world.[1][2]

## Not the same men

His second point is that the claim misidentifies who died. The men in question were not specifically the SEALs directly involved in the bin Laden takedown, but SEALs from their broader unit — a population he estimates at a hundred, a hundred and twenty, or a hundred and fifty men.[2] For a high number of them to be killed, whether in accidents or in combat, is very sadly common.[2]

Asked to confirm the distinction, Kiriakou did so without qualification: it is not the same men.[3]

## The scale of the unit

His third point corrects a misconception he attributes to films. When people talk about SEAL Team Six, or see it depicted on screen, they imagine a dozen or a dozen and a half men making up the whole unit.[3][4] In fact, Kiriakou says, several hundred men make up SEAL Team Six — and it is from among those several hundred that the individuals killed in accidents or combat are drawn.[4]

The reasoning is characteristic of his approach to claims about the raid, which he treats as explicable by ordinary institutional facts rather than by concealment; see also [bin Laden health rumors](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bin-laden-health-rumors) and [false flags are too hard](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/false-flags-are-too-hard).

## See also

- [Osama bin Laden](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/osama-bin-laden)
- [Bin Laden health rumors](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bin-laden-health-rumors)
- [False Flags Are Too Hard](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/false-flags-are-too-hard)

## Sources

1. "Reluctant Spy" era radio — probe (2026-01-15), at 18:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grlBxKDqYrQ&t=1097s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-15-opperman-report-reluctant-spy-era-radio-probe/
2. "Reluctant Spy" era radio — probe (2026-01-15), at 18:48. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grlBxKDqYrQ&t=1128s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-15-opperman-report-reluctant-spy-era-radio-probe/
3. "Reluctant Spy" era radio — probe (2026-01-15), at 19:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grlBxKDqYrQ&t=1160s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-15-opperman-report-reluctant-spy-era-radio-probe/
4. "Reluctant Spy" era radio — probe (2026-01-15), at 19:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grlBxKDqYrQ&t=1191s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-15-opperman-report-reluctant-spy-era-radio-probe/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/seal-team-six-attrition/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt