Operation Nifty Package

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Operation Nifty Package was a United States Delta Force and Navy SEAL-operated plan conducted in 1989 designed to capture the de facto ruler of Panama Manuel Noriega who ruled through puppet presidents. When Noriega took refuge in the Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See (diplomatic quarter), deafening music and other psychological warfare tactics were used to convince him to exit and surrender himself. The United States claimed that after ten days of psychological harassment, the Papal Nuncio (ambassador) Monsignor Laboa had threatened to revoke Noriega's sanctuary if he didn't surrender to the United States, although Laboa insisted that he had made no threats of revoking the right of asylum under the Church, but had used his own "precisely calibrated psychological campaign" to force Noriega's departure. Although the operation was successful, Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor, would later point to the psychological harassment of the Papal Nuncio as "a low moment in U.S. Army history...

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