Leaked US Intelligence 'Black Budget' Includes New Information On The Bin Laden Raid

Bin Laden, who eluded American intelligence officials for nearly a decade after 9/11, did so by keeping a famously low electronic profile and avoiding drones.

The U.S. found him by NSA tracking of calling patterns of al-Qaeda operatives. CIA analysts then tied the geographic location of one of the phones to the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Here are a few other revelations:

• In the months prior to the raid, U.S. spy satellites collected high-resolution and infrared images of the compound — intelligence that was “critical to prepare for the mission and contributed to the decision to approve execution.”
• Despite the resources dispatched by the intelligence network to catch bin Laden, at the time of the raid, there was only a 40-60% confidence level that he was there.
• A forensic intelligence laboratory in Afghanistan confirmed bin Laden’s identity via a DNA test within hours of the conclusion of the raid.
• In September 2011 U.S. intelligence agencies spent $2.5 million in emergency funds to buy 36 computer workstations and pay overtime to forensic examiners, linguists and “triage personnel” to sift through a backlog of computer files and other evidence recovered from bin Laden’s hideout.

Click here to read the full report from the Washington Post.