It has also gone by a number of two-word Special Access Program names, including OPTIMIZE TALENT, ROYAL CAPE, CENTRA SPIKE, CAPACITY GEAR, GRANTOR SHADOW, TORN VICTOR, QUIET ENABLE, OPAQUE LEAF, CEMETERY WIND, GRAY FOX, TITRANT RANGER, and INTREPID SPEAR.

The work accomplished by the FOG was successful, however the second attempt (called Operation Credible Sport) never took place because the air assets needed were not available.

The current badge depicts an American bald eagle grasping a claymore, surrounded by a kilt belt, inscribed with the Latin phrase "Veritas Omnia Vincula Vincit" ("Truth Overcomes All Bonds").

In the original crest, the claymore was wrapped in a chain with one of the links broken as a reminder of those killed during the failed Operation Eagle Claw.

The ISA remained extremely secret; all of its records were classified under a Special Access Program initially named OPTIMIZE TALENT.

The ISA was given its classified budget of $7 million, a secret headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and cover name, the Tactical Concept Activity.

[15] The ISA conducted various missions, including giving protection to the Lebanese leader Bachir Gemayel and attempting to buy a Soviet T-72 tank from Iraq (a deal that was finally stopped by the Iraqis).

[11][19] On 17 December 1981, the senior U.S. Army officer in NATO Land Forces Southern European Command, Brigadier General James L. Dozier, was kidnapped from his apartment in Verona, Italy, by the Italian Red Brigades terrorist[20][21][22][23][24] organization.

[27] ISA and the other Army elements provided useful intelligence, helping Italian police to arrest several Red Brigades members in mid-January 1982.

There is little doubt that the successful outcome resulted in part from the contributions of ISA's SIGINT specialists and the other supporting Army intelligence elements.

[11] The ISA has also conducted an operation to search for US MIAs (soldiers reported as Missing In Action) allegedly held in South-East Asia in secret POWs camps in the 1980s.

Known codenames included CAPACITY GEAR, CENTRA SPIKE, TORN VICTOR, QUIET ENABLE, CEMETERY WIND, and GRAY FOX.

[29] Since 2005 onward, the ISA has not always operated under a two-worded Special Access Program (SAP) name (GRAY FOX, CENTRA SPIKE, etc.).

Most candidates assigned to the Operations, Communications, and/or SIGINT squadrons go through an assessment and selection course, as well as a lengthy background investigation and psychological testing.

Some of the disciplines focused on in the training course are infiltration techniques, advanced air operations, professional driving (offensive and off-road), personal defensive measures, use of state-of-the-art communications equipment, deep surveillance, tradecraft, weapons handling, hand-to-hand combat, signals intelligence, etc.