American special forces who descended on Osama bin Laden's compound relied on a constellation of satellites to collect moment-by-moment electronic intelligence for the mission, according to leaked documents.
Details of America's secret intelligence budget - which were given to The Washington Post by Edward Snowden, the fugitive whistleblower - offer new insights into how the US cornered and killed the terrorist leader. The documents show how America's 16 spy agencies worked in unprecedented coordination on everything from tracking al-Qaeda operatives' mobile telephone calls to quickly identifying bin Laden's body.
Only small portions of the 178-page "black budget" were published by the newspaper, which said it was withholding details at the request of the government. While the CIA's role in locating bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, is well known, the documents show the major part played by the National Security Agency (NSA). It tracked the movements of senior al-Qaeda lieutenants using the few mobile phone calls that they made to each other.
The tracking was partly led by the NSA's Tailored Access Operations group, which plants spyware and homing devices on mobiles and computers. The al-Qaeda lieutenants' movements supported growing suspicion at the CIA's Langley headquarters that bin Laden was hiding in Abbottabad. In an effort to get definitive proof, the National Reconnaissance Office, which has responsibility for satellites, took hundreds of photographs of the compound. But despite the huge resources of the US intelligence community, which has more than 100,000 staff and a budget of $52.6 billion , spy chiefs were still unable to give President Barack Obama definitive information.
At meetings shortly before the May 2011 raid, intelligence officials told him they could say with only 40 to 60% certainty that bin Laden was inside. As US Navy Seals moved through the night they were watched overhead by reconnaissance satellites, tuned to pick up any electronic sign that al-Qaeda knew they were coming or that the Pakistani military had detected their incursion. The mass of data allowed the US to monitor what was happening in the surrounding area as commandos went from floor to floor, killing three of bin Laden's guards and then the terrorist leader. The spy agencies' coordination continued even after bin Laden's death.
Before his body was dropped from a US warship into the Arabian Sea, samples of his DNA were sent to the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Pentagon's in-house spy organisation. The DIA was able to make a "conclusive match" and confirm that the body was bin Laden within eight hours of the raid, the newspaper reported.
As they left the compound, the Navy Seals gathered five computers, which were taken back to the US for analysis, as well as 10 hard drives and CDs and USB sticks. The budget documents show that $2.5 million was allocated to analyse them, buying 36 work stations and paying for the services of outside examiners and linguists.
The analysis led to the discovery of significant amounts of pornography, a surprising find for a terrorist organisation that castigated the US for its attitudes towards sex.
The computers also showed evidence that bin Laden's inner circle had been looking at secret diplomatic and military files published by WikiLeaks. The issue was raised in the court martial of Bradley Manning, the US soldier who leaked the files and is now known as Chelsea Manning after declaring an intent to live as a woman.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}