Richard "Dick" Marcinko (born November 21, 1940) is a retired U.S. Navy SEAL commander and Vietnam War veteran. He was the first commanding officer of SEAL Team Six and Red Cell. SEAL Six is the team that generations later killed Osama Bin Laden. in 1990, Marcinko was sentenced to prison for twenty one months and fined $10,000 for his role in a mission that exposed security lapses at sensitive military installations and actually served 15 months of the sentence. But the entire case was a witch-hunt by military officers who were embarrassed by discovery of their own weak security. After relinquishing command of SEAL Team SIX, Marcinko was tasked by Vice Admiral James "Ace" Lyons, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, with the design of a unit to test the Navy's vulnerability to terrorism. This unit was the Naval Security coordination Team OP-06D, unofficially named Red Cell. This team tested the security of naval bases, nuclear submarines, ships, civilian airports, and an American embassy. Under Marcinko's leadership, the team was able to infiltrate seemingly impenetrable, highly secured bases, nuclear submarines, ships, and other purported "secure areas" such as Air Force One, and disappear without incident. These demonstrations showed that a vulnerable military resulted from the replacement of Marine and Naval Military Police by contracted private security agencies often staffed by retired military personnel. And because the team was able to demonstrate weaknesses, which still exist, and which put our nation in danger from terrorist attack, Marcinko was railroaded into prison. It is high time we was granted a pardon and an apology. Before Obama leaves office, demand that he pardon Richard Marcinko.