Official on bin Laden raid: 'Real intelligence coming out of this'

Global News - The initial review of the materials confiscated from Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan has found mostly "aspirational" planning but has yielded "real intelligence," according to a U.S. official.

The official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said it is still very early in the review, and there are still a lot of data to sort through to determine whether there are any concrete plots.

The special task force set up to examine the data has two initial goals, according to the official: check to see whether there are any imminent threats against the U.S. and find leads to other terrorists or plots.

The reviewing team is running around the clock, according to the official. The task force assigned to scour the seized material is run by the CIA, with dozens of representatives from throughout the intelligence community working 24/7, searching for clues.

Most of the team is poring over the digital, audio and video files as well as printed and handwritten materials from an undisclosed location in the Washington area, but some of the members are participating virtually.

The effort to decipher the data is time-consuming because much of it has to be translated, some is handwritten, and large digital files have to be transferred.

A senior U.S. intelligence official said Saturday that the materials seen so far appeared to show that bin Laden had a "continuing interest in transportation and infrastructure targets." But there is no indication of any specific plot to attack those targets.

The senior official said the U.S. believes that the bin Laden compound was in effect a command and control center for al Qaeda because the confiscated materials "clearly show that bin Laden remained an active leader in al Qaeda, providing strategic, operational and tactical instructions to the group. Though separated from many al Qaeda members who are located in more remote areas of the region, he was far from a figurehead."

According to the first U.S. official, there is "real intelligence coming out of this."

The official said the intelligence community expects to gain insights into how al Qaeda operated.

"We expect to learn more how bin Laden communicated, who he communicated with and how often he did it, what guidance did he pass on, what questions were passed on, how he operated, how he ran al Qaeda and what did other people expect from bin Laden," said the official.

At some point, the U.S. expects to share some of what it is learning with other relevant nations and parties who might be able to exploit it further, but until they know more about what they have, the official said it's too early for an exchange of information. [source]

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