A group of Navy SEALs emerged from the ink-black ocean on a winter night in early 2019 and crept to a rocky shore in North Korea. They were on a top secret mission so complex and consequential that everything had to go exactly right.

2019年初的一个冬夜，一组海豹突击队员从漆黑如墨的海水中浮出，悄悄爬上了朝鲜的一处多石的海滩。他们正在执行一项极其复杂且意义重大的绝密任务，每一个环节都必须精确无误。

The objective was to plant an electronic device that would let the United States intercept the communications of North Korea’s reclusive leader, Kim Jong-un, amid high-level nuclear talks with President Trump.

他们的目标是安装一个电子装置，使美国能够在特朗普总统进行高级别核谈判期间截获行迹隐秘的朝鲜领导人金正恩的通讯。

The mission had the potential to provide the United States with a stream of valuable intelligence. But it meant putting American commandos on North Korean soil — a move that, if detected, not only could sink negotiations but also could lead to a hostage crisis or an escalating conflict with a nuclear-armed foe.

这项任务有可能为美国提供一系列的宝贵情报。但这也意味着必须让美军特种兵踏上朝鲜领土——行动一旦被发现，不仅可能导致谈判破裂，还可能引发人质危机，甚至与这个拥有核武器的敌国冲突升级。

It was so risky that it required the president’s direct approval.

这项行动风险极高，以至于需要得到总统的直接批准。

For the operation, the military chose SEAL Team 6’s Red Squadron — the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden. The SEALs rehearsed for months, aware that every move needed to be perfect. But when they reached what they thought was a deserted shore that night, wearing black wet suits and night-vision goggles, the mission swiftly unraveled.

为执行这次行动，军方选中了海豹突击队第六分队下属的“红色中队”——击毙本·拉登的就是这支部队。队员们深知每一个动作都必须完美无误，因此训练了数月之久。然而，当那个夜晚他们身穿黑色潜水服、佩戴夜视仪，抵达一处以为荒无人烟的海岸时，任务却迅速失控了。

A North Korean boat appeared out of the dark. Flashlights from the bow swept over the water. Fearing that they had been spotted, the SEALs opened fire. Within seconds, everyone on the North Korean boat was dead.

一艘朝鲜船只突然从黑暗中出现，船头的手电筒光束在水面上来回扫动。海豹突击队员担心自己已经暴露，立即开火。几秒钟内，朝鲜船上的所有人都被击毙。

The SEALs retreated into the sea without planting the listening device.

海豹突击队未能安装窃听装置便撤回海中。

The 2019 operation has never been publicly acknowledged, or even hinted at, by the United States or North Korea. The details remain classified and are being reported here for the first time. The Trump administration did not notify key members of Congress who oversee intelligence operations, before or after the mission. The lack of notification may have violated the law.

美国和朝鲜从未公开承认2019年的这次行动，甚至从未暗示过其发生。具体细节至今仍属机密，本文是首次披露。特朗普政府在行动前后都没有通知国会中负责监督情报事务的关键成员。这种未通报行为可能已经违反了法律。

The White House declined to comment.

白宫拒绝了记者的置评请求。

This account is based on interviews with two dozen people, including civilian government officials, members of the first Trump administration and current and former military personnel with knowledge of the mission. All of them spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the mission’s classified status.

这篇报道基于对24人的采访，其中包括政府文职官员、第一届特朗普政府成员，以及知情的现役和退役军人。由于该任务属于机密，他们均以匿名方式接受采访。

Several of those people said they were discussing details about the mission because they were concerned that Special Operations failures are often hidden by government secrecy. If the public and policymakers become aware only of high-profile successes, such as the raid that killed bin Laden in Pakistan, they may underestimate the extreme risks that American forces undertake.

其中几位受访者表示，他们之所以谈论这次任务的细节，是因为担心特种作战的失败常被政府保密掩盖。如果公众和决策者只了解像击毙本·拉登这样引人注目的成功行动，可能会低估美国军队所承担的极端风险。

The military operation on North Korean soil, close to American military bases in South Korea and the Pacific region, also risked setting off a broader conflict with a hostile, nuclear-armed and highly militarized adversary.

该军事行动发生在朝鲜境内，地点靠近美国在韩国和太平洋地区的军事基地，也存在与这个敌对、拥有核武器且高度军事化的对手爆发更大规模冲突的风险。

The New York Times proceeds cautiously when reporting on classified military operations. The Times has withheld some sensitive information on the North Korea mission that could affect future Special Operations and intelligence-gathering missions.

《纽约时报》在报道机密军事行动时采取谨慎态度。针对这次朝鲜任务，时报隐去了部分敏感信息，以免影响未来的特种作战和情报收集行动。

It is unclear how much North Korea was able to discover about the mission. But the SEAL operation is one chapter in a decades-long effort by U.S. administrations to engage North Korea and constrain its nuclear weapons programs. Almost nothing the United States has tried — neither promises of closer relations nor the pressure of sanctions — has worked.

目前尚不清楚朝鲜究竟掌握了多少关于此次行动的情报。但这次海豹突击队的行动只是美国政府数十年来努力接触朝鲜、限制其核武计划的一个片段。无论是承诺改善关系，还是施加制裁压力，美国的几乎所有尝试都未能奏效。

In 2019, Mr. Trump was making a personalized overture to Mr. Kim, in search of a breakthrough that had eluded prior presidents. But those talks collapsed, and North Korea’s nuclear program accelerated. The U.S. government estimates that North Korea now has roughly 50 nuclear weapons and missiles that can reach the West Coast. Mr. Kim has pledged to keep expanding his nuclear program “exponentially” to deter what he calls U.S. provocations.

2019年，特朗普总统向金正恩展开了个人层面的接触，试图取得此前历任总统未能实现的外交突破。但谈判最终破裂，朝鲜的核计划加速推进。美国政府估计，朝鲜目前拥有大约50枚核武器和能够打击美国西海岸的导弹。金正恩誓言将“迅猛扩张”他的核计划，以威慑他所称的美国挑衅行为。

Blind Spots

盲点

The SEAL mission was intended to fix a strategic blind spot. For years, U.S. intelligence agencies had found it nearly impossible to recruit human sources and tap communications in North Korea’s insular authoritarian state.

海豹突击队的这次任务旨在弥补一个战略盲点。多年来，美国情报机构几乎无法在朝鲜这个封闭的威权国家中招募线人或监听通讯。

Gaining insight into Mr. Kim’s thinking became a high priority when Mr. Trump first took office. The North Korean leader seemed increasingly unpredictable and dangerous, and his relationship with Mr. Trump had lurched erratically between letters of friendship and public threats of nuclear war.

特朗普刚上任时，深入了解金正恩的想法成为一项高度优先的任务。因为这位朝鲜领导人看起来越来越难以预测、充满危险，而他与特朗普的关系也极其反复无常——时而是互通友好的信件，时而是公开的核战争威胁。

In 2018, relations seemed to be moving toward peace. North Korea suspended nuclear and missile tests, and the two countries opened negotiations, but the United States still had little insight into Mr. Kim’s intentions.

2018年，朝美关系似乎正朝着和平方向发展。朝鲜暂停了核试验和导弹试射，双方开启了谈判，但美国对金正恩的真实意图仍所知甚少。

Amid the uncertainty, U.S. intelligence agencies revealed to the White House that they had a fix for the intelligence problem: a newly developed electronic device that could intercept Mr. Kim’s communications.

在这种不确定性之下，美国情报机构向白宫透露，他们找到了应对情报难题的办法：一种新研发的电子装置，可以截获金正恩的通讯。

The catch was that someone had to sneak in and plant it.

问题在于，必须有人潜入朝鲜并安装该装置。

2019年2月，特朗普与金正恩在越南河内的梅特罗波酒店会面。

The job was given to SEAL Team 6 in 2018, military officials said.

据军方官员透露，这项任务于2018年被交予海豹突击队第六分队。

Even for Team 6, the mission would be extraordinarily difficult. SEALs who were more used to quick raids in places like Afghanistan and Iraq would have to survive for hours in frigid seas, slip past security forces on land, perform a precise technical installation and then get out undetected.

即便对第六分队来说，这项任务也异常艰难。那些习惯于在阿富汗和伊拉克执行快速突袭的海豹突击队员此次必须在冰冷刺骨的海水中坚持数小时，悄无声息地绕过陆地上的安全部队，完成一次精密的技术性安装，然后在不被发现的情况下安全撤离。

Getting out undetected was vital. In Mr. Trump’s first term, top leaders in the Pentagon believed that even a small military action against North Korea could provoke catastrophic retaliation from an adversary with roughly 8,000 artillery pieces and rocket launchers aimed at the approximately 28,000 American troops in South Korea, and nuclear-capable missiles that could reach the United States.

不被发现地撤离至关重要。在特朗普总统第一任期内，五角大楼的高级官员普遍认为，即使是针对朝鲜的一次小规模军事行动也可能引发灾难性的报复。因为这个对手拥有大约8000门火炮和火箭发射器，瞄准着约28000名驻韩美军士兵，同时还具备可打到美国本土的核导弹能力。

But the SEALs believed they could pull off the mission because they had done something like it before.

但海豹突击队相信他们能够完成这项任务，因为他们有过类似的行动。

In 2005, SEALs used a mini-sub to go ashore in North Korea and leave unnoticed, according to people familiar with the mission. The 2005 operation, carried out during the presidency of George W. Bush, has never before been reported publicly.

据知情人士透露，2005年，海豹突击队曾使用一艘迷你潜艇秘密登陆朝鲜并悄悄撤离。那次行动发生在乔治·W·布什总统任期内，之前从未被公开报道过。

The SEALs were proposing to do it again. In the fall of 2018, while high-level talks with North Korea were underway, Joint Special Operations Command, which oversees Team 6, received approval from Mr. Trump to start preparing, military officials said. It is unclear whether Mr. Trump’s intent was to gain an immediate advantage during negotiations or if the focus was broader.

海豹突击队计划再次执行类似行动。军方官员表示，2018年秋季，在与朝鲜进行高级别会谈期间，负责监督第六分队的联合特种作战司令部获得了特朗普总统的批准，开始准备行动。目前尚不清楚特朗普的意图是为了在谈判中获得即时优势，还是出于更广泛的战略考虑。

Joint Special Operations Command declined to comment.

联合特种作战司令部拒绝置评。

The plan called for the Navy to sneak a nuclear-powered submarine, nearly two football fields long, into the waters off North Korea and then deploy a small team of SEALs in two mini-subs, each about the size of a killer whale, that would motor silently to the shore.

计划要求海军秘密派遣一艘长度接近两个橄榄球场（编注：约220米）的核动力潜艇，潜入朝鲜近海水域，然后派出一支小型海豹突击队，分乘两艘虎鲸大小的迷你潜艇，静静地驶向岸边。

The mini-subs were wet subs, which meant the SEALs would ride immersed in 40-degree ocean water for about two hours to reach the shore, using scuba gear and heated suits to survive.

这些迷你潜艇属于“湿式潜艇”，意味着海豹突击队员将浸泡在约4摄氏度的海水中，行驶约两小时才能抵达岸边，他们需要依靠潜水装备和加热服来维持生命。

一艘美国核动力导弹潜艇2021年在日本冲绳附近参加演习。2019年，一艘类似的潜艇曾将一支海豹突击队运送至朝鲜近海。

Near the beach, the mini-subs would release a group of about eight SEALs who would swim to the target, install the device and then slip back into the sea.

接近海滩时，迷你潜艇将放出大约八名海豹突击队员，他们游向目标地点，安装装置后再悄然潜回海中。

But the team faced a serious limitation: It would be going in almost blind.

但这支队伍面临一个严重的限制：他们几乎是在一无所知的情况下执行任务。

Typically, Special Operations forces have drones overhead during a mission, streaming high-definition video of the target, which SEALs on the ground and senior leaders in far-off command centers can use to direct the strike in real time. Often, they can even listen in on enemy communications.

通常，特种作战部队在执行任务时，头顶会有无人机实时传输目标的高清视频，地面的海豹突击队员和远在指挥中心的长官可以利用这些画面进行实时指挥。他们甚至常常能够监听敌方通讯。

But in North Korea, any drone would be spotted. The mission would have to rely on satellites in orbit and high-altitude spy planes in international airspace miles away that could provide only relatively low-definition still images, officials said.

但在朝鲜，任何无人机都会被发现。官员们表示，这次任务只能依靠轨道卫星和位于国际空域、数英里外的高空侦察机提供的相对低分辨率静态图像。

Those images would arrive not in real time, but after a delay of several minutes at best. Even then, they could not be relayed to the mini-subs because a single encrypted transmission might give the mission away. Everything had to be done under a near blackout of communications.

这些图像不会实时传输，最佳情况也会有几分钟的延迟。即便如此，也无法将图像传送给迷你潜艇，因为一次加密通信就可能暴露整个任务。所有行动必须在几乎完全断绝通讯的情况下完成。

If anything awaited the SEALs on shore, they might not know until it was too late.

如果岸上有任何风险等待着海豹突击队员，他们发觉的时候可能为时已晚。

The Operation Unravels

行动逐渐瓦解

SEAL Team 6 practiced for months in U.S. waters and continued preparations into the first weeks of 2019. That February, Mr. Trump announced that he would meet Mr. Kim for a nuclear summit in Vietnam at the end of the month.

海豹突击队第六分队在美国水域训练了数月，2019年初的几周也在持续进行准备工作。那年2月，特朗普宣布他将在月底于越南与金正恩举行核峰会。

For the mission, SEAL Team 6 partnered with the Navy’s premier underwater team, SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1, which had been doing mini-sub espionage for years. The SEALs boarded the nuclear-powered submarine and headed for North Korea. When the submarine was in the open ocean, and about to enter a communications blackout, Mr. Trump gave the final go-ahead.

为了执行这项任务，海豹突击队与海军顶尖的水下小组——长期从事迷你潜艇间谍行动的海豹运送艇第一分队合作。海豹突击队员登上了核动力潜艇，驶向朝鲜。当潜艇进入公海，即将进入通信中断状态时，特朗普总统给予了最终批准。

It is unclear what factors Mr. Trump weighed when approving the SEAL mission. Two of his top national security officials at that time — his national security adviser, John Bolton, and the acting defense secretary, Patrick M. Shanahan — declined to comment for this article.

特朗普批准海豹突击队任务时权衡了哪些因素，目前尚不清楚。当时他的两位高级国家安全官员——国家安全顾问约翰·博尔顿和代理国防部长帕特里克·M·沙纳汉——均拒绝为本篇报道置评。

The submarine neared the North Korean coast and launched two mini-subs, which motored to a spot about 100 yards from shore, in clear shallow water.

那艘潜艇接近朝鲜海岸后发射了两艘迷你潜艇，后者驶向了距海岸约90米的一处清澈的浅水区。

Mission planners had tried to compensate for having no live overhead video by spending months watching how people came and went in the area. They studied fishing patterns and chose a time when boat traffic would be scant. The intelligence suggested that if SEALs arrived silently in the right location in the dead of night in winter, they would be unlikely to encounter anyone.

任务策划人员为了弥补无法获得实时空中视频的不足，花费数月时间观察该地区人员流动情况。他们研究了捕鱼规律，并选择了船只稀少的时机。情报显示，如果海豹突击队在冬季的深夜悄无声息地抵达正确地点，遇到人的可能性极小。

2018年的朝鲜海岸，该区域常有小型渔船出没。

The night was still and the sea was calm. As the mini-subs glided toward the target, their sensors suggested that the intelligence was correct. The shore appeared to be empty.

夜色安宁，海面平静。当迷你潜艇缓缓驶向目标时，传感器显示情报是准确的，岸边似乎无人。

The mini-subs reached the spot where they were supposed to park on the sea floor. There, the team made what may have been the first of three small mistakes that seemed inconsequential at the time but may have doomed the mission.

迷你潜艇抵达了计划中停靠在海底的位置。就在这里，队伍可能犯下了三个小错误中的第一个——当时看似无关紧要，但却可能导致了任务的失败。

In the darkness, the first mini-sub settled on the sea floor as planned, but the second overshot the mark and had to do a U-turn, officials said.

官员们说，在黑暗中，第一艘迷你潜艇按计划在海底着陆，但第二艘潜艇偏离了目标，不得不掉头返回。

The plan called for the mini-subs to park facing the same way, but after the second sub doubled back, they were pointing in opposite directions. Time was limited, so the group decided to release the shore team and correct the parking issue later.

计划要求两艘迷你潜艇面朝同一方向停泊，但在第二艘潜艇调头后，它们的朝向是相反的。由于时间紧迫，行动小组决定放出登陆团队，稍后再纠正停泊问题。

Sliding doors on the subs opened, and the SEALs — all gripping untraceable weapons loaded with untraceable ammunition — swam silently underwater to shore with the listening device.

潜艇上的滑动门打开了，海豹突击队员们携带的弹药和武器都无法被追溯回源头，带着监听装置，悄然在水下游向岸边。

Every few yards, the SEALs peeked above the black water to scan their surroundings. Everything seemed clear.

队员们每隔几米就探出漆黑的水面，扫视一下周围的环境。似乎一切无恙。

That might have been a second mistake. Bobbing in the darkness was a small boat. On board was a crew of North Koreans who were easy to miss because the sensors in the SEALs’ night-vision goggles were designed in part to detect heat, and the wet suits the Koreans wore were chilled by the cold seawater.

这可能是第二个错误。一艘小船在黑暗中摇晃着。船上有一群朝鲜船员，他们极易被忽视，因为海豹突击队夜视镜上的传感器在一定程度上是为了探测热源而设计的，而朝鲜人穿的潜水衣被冰冷的海水浸得冰凉。

The SEALs reached shore thinking they were alone, and started to remove their diving gear. The target was only a few hundred yards away.

队员们上岸时以为无人察觉，于是开始脱下潜水装备。目标只有几百米远。

Back at the mini-subs, the pilots repositioned the sub that was facing the wrong way. With the sliding cockpit doors open for visibility and communication, a pilot revved the electric motor and brought the sub around.

在迷你潜艇那里，驾驶员重新定位了面朝错误方向的潜艇。为了方便观察和交流，驾驶舱的滑动门是开着的，一名驾驶员启动了电动马达，让潜艇调转方向。

That was probably a third mistake. Some SEALs speculated afterward in briefings that the motor’s wake might have caught the attention of the North Korean boat. And if the boat crew heard a splash and turned to look, they might have seen light from the subs’ open cockpits glowing in the dark water.

这可能是第三个错误。一些队员事后在简报中猜测，发动机的尾流可能引起了朝鲜船只的注意。如果艇上的船员听到水花声，转头查看，他们可能会看到潜艇敞开的驾驶舱在黑暗的水中透出的光。

The boat started moving toward the mini-subs. The North Koreans were shining flashlights and talking as if they had noticed something.

朝鲜船只开始向迷你潜艇移动。朝鲜人打着手电筒交谈，好像注意到了什么。

Some of the mini-sub pilots told officials in debriefings afterward that from their vantage point, looking up through the clear water, the boat still seemed to be a safe distance away and they had doubted that the mini-subs had been spotted. But the SEALs at the shore saw it differently. In the dark, featureless sea, the boat to them seemed to be practically on top of the mini-subs.

部分迷你潜艇驾驶员在事后的汇报中告诉官员，从他们的位置透过清澈的海水向上看，那艘船似乎仍然在安全距离之外，他们觉得迷你潜艇可能未被发现。但岸上的队员却有不同的看法。在一片漆黑、毫无参照的海面上，在他们看来，那艘船几乎就位于迷你潜艇的上方。

2007年训练演习中使用的一艘海军迷你潜艇，称为“海豹运送艇”。类似的潜艇也被用于2019年的那次任务。

With communications blacked out, there was no way for the shore team to confer with the mini-subs. Lights from the boat swept over the water. The SEALs didn’t know if they were seeing a security patrol on the hunt for them or a simple fishing crew oblivious to the high-stakes mission unfolding around them.

由于通讯中断，岸上小组无法与迷你潜艇沟通。船上的灯光扫过水面。海豹突击队不知道他们看到的是一支正在追捕他们的安全巡逻队，还是一群对周围展开的高风险任务一无所知的渔民。

A man from the North Korean boat splashed into the sea.

朝鲜船只上的一名男子跳入大海。

If the shore team got into trouble, the nuclear-powered sub had a group of SEAL reinforcements standing by with inflatable speedboats. Farther offshore, stealth rotary aircraft were positioned on U.S. Navy ships with even more Special Operations troops, ready to sweep in if needed.

如果岸上的队伍遇到麻烦，核动力潜艇上有海豹突击队的增援部队和充气快艇待命。在离岸更远的地方，美国海军舰艇搭载的隐形旋翼机载着更多特种部队待命，随时准备投入战斗。

The SEALs faced a critical decision, but there was no way to discuss the next move. The mission commander was miles away on the big submarine. With no drones and a communications blackout, many of the technological advantages that the SEALs normally relied on had been stripped away, leaving a handful of men in wet neoprene, unsure of what to do.

海豹突击队面临关键抉择，但是没有办法讨论下一步的行动。任务指挥官在几公里外的大潜艇上。由于没有无人机和通讯中断，海豹突击队通常依赖的许多技术优势荡然无存，仅剩几名身着湿透了的氯丁橡胶潜水服的队员，茫然不知该如何行动。

As the shore team watched the North Korean in the water, the senior enlisted SEAL at the shore chose a course of action. He wordlessly centered his rifle and fired. The other SEALs instinctively did the same.

当登陆团队注视着水中的朝鲜人时，他们中的那位高级士官做出了一个行动决定。他一言不发地瞄准目标开了火。其他队员本能地做了同样的事。

Compromise and Escape

暴露与撤离

If the SEALs were unsure whether the mission had been compromised before they fired, they had no doubt afterward. The plan required the SEALs to abort immediately if they encountered anyone. North Korean security forces could be coming. There was no time to plant the device.

如果说海豹突击队在开火前还不确定任务是否受到了威胁，那么开火后就不需要怀疑了。该计划要求海豹突击队在遇到任何人时立即中止行动。朝鲜安全部队可能要赶来了。已经没有时间布设装置。

The shore team swam to the boat to make sure that all of the North Koreans were dead. They found no guns or uniforms. Evidence suggested that the crew, which people briefed on the mission said numbered two or three people, had been civilians diving for shellfish. All were dead, including the man in the water.

岸上小组游到船上，以确保所有的朝鲜人都已死亡。他们没有找到枪和制服。据了解这次任务的人说，有证据表明，这些船员是潜水采集贝类的平民。所有人都死了，包括在水里的那个人。

Officials familiar with the mission said the SEALs pulled the bodies into the water to hide them from the North Korean authorities. One added that the SEALs punctured the boat crew’s lungs with knives to make sure their bodies would sink.

熟悉这次行动的官员说，队员们把尸体拖进水里，以躲避朝鲜当局。其中一名官员还说，他们用刀刺穿船员的肺部，以确保他们的尸体沉没。

The SEALs swam back to the mini-subs and sent a distress signal. Believing the SEALs were in imminent danger of capture, the big nuclear submarine maneuvered into shallow water close to the shore, taking a significant risk to pick them up. It then sped toward the open ocean.

队员们游回迷你潜艇，发出求救信号。大型核潜艇认为海豹突击队有被捕获的危险，于是冒着很大的风险驶入靠近海岸的浅水区，把他们接走，然后向公海疾驰而去。

All the U.S. military personnel escaped unharmed.

所有美国军事人员均安全撤离。

Immediately afterward, U.S. spy satellites detected a surge of North Korean military activity in the area, U.S. officials said. North Korea did not make any public statements about the deaths, and U.S. officials said it was unclear whether the North Koreans ever pieced together what had happened and who was responsible.

美国官员说，紧接着，美国间谍卫星发现朝鲜在该地区的军事活动激增。朝鲜没有就死亡事件发表任何公开声明，美国官员表示，目前还不清楚朝鲜人是否推断出了事情的原委，以及谁应该对此负责。

The nuclear summit in Vietnam went ahead as planned at the end of February 2019, but the talks quickly ended with no deal.

2019年2月底在越南举行的核峰会按计划进行，但会谈很快以没有达成协议告终。

By May, North Korea had resumed missile tests.

到5月，朝鲜恢复了导弹试验。

Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim met once more that June in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. It made for dramatic television, with Mr. Trump even stepping across into North Korea. But the brief meeting yielded little more than a handshake.

那年6月，特朗普和金正恩在朝鲜和韩国之间的非军事区再次会面，成就了戏剧性的电视画面，特朗普甚至走进了朝鲜境内。但这次简短的会面除了一次握手之外没有产生什么成果。

In the months that followed, North Korea fired more missiles than in any previous year, including some capable of reaching the United States. Since then, the United States estimates, North Korea has amassed 50 nuclear warheads and material to produce about 40 more.

在接下来的几个月里，朝鲜发射的导弹比以往任何一年都多，其中一些导弹能够打到美国。据美国估计，自那以来，朝鲜已经积累了50枚核弹头，并储备了可生产约40枚以上核弹头的原料。

Uneven Track Record

良莠不齐的表现

The aborted SEAL mission prompted a series of military reviews during Mr. Trump’s first term. They found that the killing of civilians was justified under the rules of engagement, and that the mission was undone by a collision of unfortunate occurrences that could not have been foreseen or avoided. The findings were classified.

在特朗普的第一个任期内，这起海豹突击队任务的流产引发了一系列军事审查。审查认定，根据交战规则，击杀平民是合理的，该任务是由于无法预见或避免的不幸事件叠加而失败。调查结果被列为机密。

The Trump administration never told leaders of key committees in Congress that oversee military and intelligence activities about the operation or the findings, government officials said. In doing so, the Trump administration may have violated federal law, said Matthew Waxman, a law professor at Columbia University who served in national security positions under former President George W. Bush.

政府官员表示，特朗普政府从未向负责军事和情报活动的国会关键委员会领导人通报过这次行动或调查结果。哥伦比亚大学法学教授马修·韦克斯曼说，特朗普政府这样做可能违反了联邦法律。韦克斯曼曾在前总统乔治·W·布什的政府任国家安全官员。

Mr. Waxman said the law has gray areas that give presidents some leeway on what they tell Congress. But on more consequential missions, the burden leans more toward notification.

韦克斯曼说，相关法律存在灰色地带，赋予总统向国会披露信息的裁量权。但在更重要的任务中，总统的责任更倾向于履行通知义务。

“The point is to ensure that Congress isn’t kept in the dark when major stuff is going on,” Mr. Waxman said. “This is exactly the kind of thing that would normally be briefed to the committees and something the committees would expect to be told about.”

“关键是要确保国会在重大事件发生时不会被蒙在鼓里，”韦克斯曼说。“此类行动是通常会向委员会汇报的事情，也是委员会理应获知的信息。”

Many of the people involved in the mission were later promoted.

参与这项任务的许多人后来都得到了提拔。

But the episode worried some experienced military officials with knowledge of the mission, because the SEALs have an uneven track record that for decades has largely been concealed by secrecy.

但这一事件让一些了解这次任务的资深军事官员感到担忧，因为海豹突击队以往的表现良莠不齐，数十年来，这些记录大多被保密措施所掩盖。

Elite Special Operations units are regularly assigned some of the most difficult and dangerous tasks. Over the years, the SEALs have had a number of major successes, including hits on terrorist leaders, high-profile rescues of hostages and the takedown of bin Laden, that have built an almost superhuman public image.

精英特种作战部队经常被指派执行一些最困难和最危险的任务。多年来，海豹突击队取得了许多重大成功，包括刺杀恐怖主义头目、备受瞩目的人质营救和击毙本·拉登，这些都为他们树立了近乎超人的公众形象。

But among some in the military who have worked with them, the SEALs have a reputation for devising overly bold and complex missions that go badly. Team 6’s debut mission, which was part of the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983, is a case in point.

但在一些与他们共事过的军人中，海豹突击队以策划过于大胆和复杂的任务而闻名，这些任务往往执行得很糟糕。1983年美国入侵格林纳达时，第六分队的首秀任务就是一个很好的例子。

The plan was to parachute into the sea, race to the coast in speedboats and plant beacons to guide assault forces to the island’s airport. But the SEALs’ plane took off late; they jumped at night and landed in stormy conditions, weighed down by heavy gear. Four SEALs drowned, and the rest swamped their speedboats.

行动计划是：队员们先跳伞落入海中，再乘快艇疾驰至海岸，并埋设信标引导突击部队前往岛上机场。但海豹突击队的运输机起飞延误，队员们在夜间跳伞时遭遇暴风雨，沉重的装备使他们难以行动。四人溺水身亡，其余队员的快艇进水。

The airfield was later seized by Army Rangers who parachuted directly onto the airfield.

机场后来被陆军游骑兵占领，他们直接跳伞降落在机场。

1983年美国入侵格林纳达期间，美军在萨林斯角机场警戒。海豹突击队第六分队的首次任务以该岛主要机场为目标，但行动出现严重失误。

Since then, SEALs have mounted other complex and daring missions that unraveled, in Panama, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia. During a rescue mission in Afghanistan in 2010, Team 6 SEALs accidentally killed a hostage they were trying to rescue with a grenade and then misled superiors about how she had died.

从那以后，海豹突击队在巴拿马、阿富汗、也门和索马里执行了其他复杂而大胆的任务，但都以失败告终。2010年，在阿富汗的一次救援任务中，第六分队用手榴弹意外杀死了一名他们试图营救的人质，然后在她的死因问题上误导了上级。

In part because of this track record, President Barack Obama curtailed Special Operations missions late in his second term and increased oversight, reserving complex commando raids for extraordinary situations like hostage rescues.

奥巴马总统在第二任期后期削减了特种作战任务，并加强了监督，仅在人质救援等特殊情况下才批准复杂突击行动，一定程度上就是因为这种良莠不齐的表现。

The first Trump administration reversed many of those restrictions and cut the amount of high-level deliberation for sensitive missions. A few days after taking office in 2017, Mr. Trump skipped over much of the established deliberative process to greenlight a Team 6 raid on a village in Yemen. That mission left 30 villagers and a SEAL dead and destroyed a $75 million aircraft.

第一届特朗普政府取消了许多限制，并减少了敏感任务的高层审议程序。2017年上任几天后，特朗普跳过了大部分既定的审议程序，批准了第六分队对也门一个村庄的突袭行动。那次行动导致30名村民和一名海豹突击队队员死亡，损失了一架价值7500万美元的飞机。

When President Joseph R. Biden Jr. succeeded Mr. Trump, the gravity of the North Korea mission attracted renewed scrutiny. Mr. Biden’s defense secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, ordered an independent investigation, conducted by the lieutenant general in charge of the Army inspector general’s office.

拜登总统接替特朗普后，朝鲜任务的重要性再次引起了关注。拜登的国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀三世下令进行独立调查，由一名执掌陆军监察长办公室的中将负责。

In 2021, the Biden administration briefed key members of Congress on the findings, a former government official said.

一位前政府官员透露，2021年，拜登政府向国会核心成员通报了调查结果。

Those findings remain classified.

这些发现目前仍属机密。