The United States Navy's Sea, Air and Land Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's principal special operations force and a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command (NSWC) as well as the maritime component of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).

The unit's acronym ("SEAL") is derived from their capacity to operate at sea, in the air, and on land - but it is their ability to work underwater that separates SEALs from most other military units in the world.

In the early morning of 2 May 2011 local time, a team of 40 CIA-led Navy SEALs from DEVGRU, 24 on the ground, successfully completed an operation to kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan about 35 miles (56 km) from Islamabad, the country's capital. The Navy SEALs were part of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, previously called "Team 6" based in Dam Neck. President Barack Obama later confirmed the death of bin Laden, but did not directly mention the involvement of DEVGRU, saying only that a "small team" of Americans undertook the operation to bring down bin Laden. The unprecedented media coverage raised the public profile of the SEAL community, particularly the counter-terrorism specialists commonly known as SEAL Team 6. Disney rushed to trademark the SEAL Team 6 name 3 May, the day after the bin Laden raid.