INTELLIGENCE SUCCESS (OSAMA BIN LADEN) By: Intelligence Success (Osama Bin Laden) The search for the Al-Qaida leader who claimed the responsibility of the September 11, incident was a long intelligence journey that started more than 6 years before his final capture and killing. The CIA and the US President Obama convened more than five meetings to unveil the intelligence strategies of capturing the terrorist. The exercise involved the CIA and the National Security Council of the President. The process of unedifying the location of Osama Bin Laden commenced by an intelligence committee locating the big compound believed to host the carriers and the brothers. This success was years in making that involved interviews with some of the high-value detainees such as KSM (Khalid Sheik Mohammed) who had important information on the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden1. In the end, this came down as a classic espionage effort and a judgment by the US President who opted for surgical helicopter attack and not a bomb.
According to some senior administration officials, the probability of finding Bin Laden in the big and secured compound was 60-80 percent2. The US CIA pushed so hard to know the real name, but all they succeeded in getting was the nickname to the carrier. After long intelligence search, the CIA finally learnt his real name as identified in other parts of the world. The Security Council then embarked on locating his residence. Although they had an idea that he was residing in Pakistan, the exact location was not known. The CIA worked very close with the Pakistan’s intelligence agency to help in the location of Abbottabad, the compound where Bin Laden lived. The killing of Osama showed great degree of intelligence by the CIA and other security councils who had a hand in the capture and killing of the terrorist.
Reference
Greene, Meg. The Hunt for Osama Bin Laden. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 2011.
