[3] The Special Intervention Group ensures the permanent availability of personnel to the Ministry of the Interior for immediate deployments.

[3] Aside from the permanent availability ensured to the Interior Ministry, the GIS is used by the General Command of the Carabinieri to guarantee the security of threatened personalities or to assist territorial units in crisis situations such as kidnapping and capturing criminals, fugitives or dangerous evades.

In 2015, laws were changed to permit the Italian foreign intelligence service Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (AISE) to use GIS for individual missions.

[5] During the 1970s (the so-called years of lead) the Italian political and civil institutions suffered a violent assault by endemic terrorist groups.

On 18 October 1977, the political will changed as a result of the success of Operation Feuerzauber (Magic Fire) conducted by the Germans of the GSG-9 that in Somalia succeeded in freeing 86 passengers and 3 crew members of the Lufthansa 181 flight hijacked and still in the hand of terrorists.

[7] The Special Intervention Group was the first to be officially established on 6 February 1978 by the General Command of the Carabinieri,[1] within the then-Battalion "Tuscania".

The Special Intervention Group was made operationally autonomous, administratively part of the Battalion and logistically supported by the Folgore Brigade.

[10] The GIS, because of the minor terrorist emergency, since 2000, has operated mainly in the military, and since 26 November 2004, it has been part of the Special Forces, along with COMSUBIN, 9th Paratroopers Assault Regiment and the 17º Stormo Incursori.

[10][11] The decision of converting the GIS into a special forces unit was taken as a consequence of the large overseas deployment of its operators, which distinguished themselves for competence and resolution in various scenarios of war.

In the most urgent cases, an advanced core precedes the operating section in order to plan the intervention strategy based on first-hand information.

Being an elite unit, the path that candidates have to make to access it is particularly hard and selective from the first phase which includes interviews and psycho-physical visits.

Once part of GIS, training is daily and their skills are perfected with further courses: Finally, there are ongoing collaborative relationships with military departments, including foreign ones.

GIS has very good relations with other top class CT units in the world, among these are Great Britain's SAS, Ireland's ARW & ERU, Spain's GEO and UEI, France's GIGN, United States's Hostage Rescue Team, Germany's GSG 9 and SEK, Belgium's ESI, Austria's EKO Cobra and the Netherlands's DSI.