USMC conducted an thorough evaluation of its security forces during the mid-eighties. Upon the studies completion, the Corps came to the conclusion that its current security procedures were inadequate to handle the security threats being posed against it. The Corps decided to form a new unit of highly trained Marines dedicated to defending both US Navy and Marine Corps assets from terrorist attack. The new unit was designated as the Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team, or FAST. Established in 1987, FAST Companies provide such physical security missions as approved by the Chief of Naval Operations in coordination with the Commandant of the Marine Corps and perform additional functions as directed by the Commandant of the Marine Corps. Training for FAST Marines is defensive in nature, with a heavy emphasis on short-term emergency defense to limited counterattack and recapture. And the training is weapons-intensive. Marines assigned to FAST come from the Marines? School of Infantry and the Security Forces School, training in combat marksmanship and room clearing techniques with shotguns and pistols. Beyond that, they?re trained at a specialized-school for FAST Marines in close-quarters battle and on the use of the MP-5 submachine gun. But that?s not the end of their arsenal. FAST Marines train with nearly every weapon available to Marines and soldiers on the battlefield, from 9mm pistols to .50-caliber machine guns and automatic grenade launchers to anti-tank rockets. The units have an accomplished resume. Their expertise was first called in 1989 to Panama, responding to incursions on U.S. Naval installations there. FAST Marines also served in Operation Just Cause later that same year. During Operation Desert Storm, FAST Marines ran security for the Navy in Bahrain, and in 1991 they secured the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia, Liberia, following a noncombatant evacuation operation. They also secured U.S. mission in Somalia in the closing days of Operation Restore Hope in 1994. Running stepped-up security for U.S. embassies in Pakistan and Uzbekistan is well within the scope of missions FAST Marines routinely and historically perform. Within 10 hours of the bombing of the Khobar Towers, in Saudi Arabia, FAST Marines were running security there, as well as arriving on scene soon after the East Africa embassy bombings.