Navy Seals Guided from SPACE, a Top Secret Lab that had Bin Laden's DNA and Clandestine NSA Operatives who Bugged Terrorist's Phones: New Details of Bin Laden Raid Leaked by Snowden
- New classified information was included in 2013 'black budget' for 16 U.S. intelligence agencies
- Documents state a branch of NSA tracked cell phones used by al-Qaeda operatives that led CIA to Bin Laden's Pakistan hideout
- U.S. military lab in Afghanistan analyzed DNA from Bin Laden's corpse and gave positive ID eight hours after raid
- National Reconnaissance Office satellite collected hundreds of high-resolution images of the Abbottabad compound a month before raid
By Daily Mail UK, 30 August 2013
Top secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden have revealed how a clandestine NSA unit helped bug phones to locate Osama Bin Laden, a previously undisclosed lab helped confirm his DNA and the SEALS who raided his compound were guided from space.
According to a packet of classified intelligence documents that were leaked to the Post by former NSA contractor-turned-Russian émigré Edward Snowden, the successful raid on Bin Laden's lair was made possible in part thanks to a team of top secret operatives known as the
Tailored Access Operation group.
The elite hackers are tasked with breaking into computers and cell phone networks and installing spyware and locator devices. Such implants on devices owned by Al Qaeda officials were crucial to enabling the Bin Laden raid, according to the Post.
Documents also reveal the existence of a top secret lab Defense Intelligence Agency Lab holding Bin Laden's DNA that was able to confirm his identity within hours, and that a network of NSA satellites guided the SEALs on the raid and intercepted communications from the surrounding area.
Operation Neptune Spear: Leaked top secret intelligence documents revealed that the NSA played a key role
in the mission to find Osama Bin Laden by tracking cell phones of al-Qaeda operatives
The newspaper reported Thursday that the CIA was then able to identify the location of one of the cell phones belonging to an al-Qaeda operative, which was linked to the walled-in home in the affluent suburb of Abbottabad.
The classified information about the lead-up to the 2011 raid carried out by SEAL Team 6 was mentioned in the 2013 fiscal 'black budget' for the U.S. intelligence community.
The leaked documents, which include pie charts and graphs, show that the 16 agencies received nearly
$53billion, with the biggest share of the budget - $14.7bllion - going to the CIA.
The NSA got $10.8billion, nearly half of which was spent on collecting, processing and analysing data.
Renegade: The classified documents detailing the 2013 fiscal budget for U.S. intelligence agencies
was leaked to the Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden
The secret documents filled in some gaps in information about the May 2011 raid, detailing how the operation was guided from space by satellites, which collected electronic data from Pakistan while the mission was in progress.
While the 178-page 'black budget' is scant on details, the fiscal documents mentioned that an NSA branch known as the Tailored Access Operation group was responsible for installing spyware and tracking devices to collect data from cell phones used by al-Qaeda operatives.
The budget also shows that a U.S. military laboratory in Afghanistan analysed DNA from Bin Laden's corpse and confirmed his identity shortly after he was killed.
The Pentagon denied more than a year ago it had any records of these tests in a response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Associated Press a day after President Barack Obama announced Bin Laden's death.
The Post reported that a forensic intelligence laboratory run by the Defense Intelligence Agency performed the DNA testing eight hours after the right, and the tests 'provided a conclusive match.'
The AP's request for records submitted on May 2, 2011, included DNA and facial recognition tests performed to ensure the body was Bin Laden's, all videos and photographs taken during the raid on Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the death certificate and other records related to the mission.
In a March 2012 response, the Defense Department said it could not locate any of the files.
Secret lair: Thanks to the data gathered by the NSA, the CIA was able to identify the location of one of the
cell phones linked to a walled-in home in the affluent suburb of Abbottabad, Pakistan
Eyes in the sky: The documents stated that the raid on Bin Laden's compound was guided from space by satellites
Positive ID: A U.S. military laboratory in Afghanistan analysed DNA
from Bin Laden's corpse and confirmed his identity
The AP reported in July that the nation's top special operations commander, Adm. William McRaven, had ordered military files about the raid purged from Defense Department computers and sent to the CIA, where they more easily could be shielded from ever being made public.
The secret move appeared to have sidestepped federal rules and perhaps the Freedom of Information Act as well.
The CIA has special authority to prevent the release of 'operational files' in ways that can't effectively be challenged in federal court.
Spokesmen for the Pentagon and CIA denied the move was intended to avoid the legal requirements of the FOIA. The Bin Laden mission was overseen by the CIA, they said, which meant the records about the raid should be housed with the spy agency.
Secret force: An NSA branch known as the Tailored Access Operation group was responsible
for installing spyware and tracking devices as part of the hunt for Bin Laden
Costly service: The NSA received $10.8billion in government funds in 2013, which is about $4billion behind CIA's budget
The CIA has not responded to a separate request for many of the same records about the bin Laden mission the Pentagon said it could not find.
A month before the launch of the operation to find and kill bin Laden, satellites operated by the National Reconnaissance Office collected hundreds of high-resolution and infrared images of the Abbottabad stronghold , which were ‘critical to prepare for the mission and contributed to the decision to approve execution,’ according to the classified documents.
RELATED:
Pakistani Doctor who Helped CIA Hunt Down Osama bin Laden has 33 year Prison Sentence for Treason Overturned
- Dr Shakil Afridi ran a vaccination program outside bin Laden's compound
- DNA was collected in an attempt to verify the al-Qaida leader's presence
- He was convicted on unrelated charges of 'conspiring against the state'
- Accused of giving money and providing medical aid to Islamic militants
- A Pakistani judicial official overturned the sentence and ordered a re-trial
30 August 2013
Retrial: Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA hunt down
Osama bin Laden has had a 33 year prison sentence overturned
The Pakistani doctor who was hailed a hero after helping the CIA hunt down Osama bin Laden has had a 33 year prison sentence for treason overturned.
Shakil Afridi was convicted in May 2012 on charges unrelated to the bin Laden incident of 'conspiring against the state' by giving money and providing medical treatment to Islamic militants in Pakistan's Khyber tribal area.
The doctor's family and the militants denied the allegations.
Yesterday a senior Pakistani judicial official overturned the sentence and ordered a re-trial, on the grounds that person who had issued the sentence had not been authorised to hear the case.
Dr Afridi ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA in an attempt to verify the al-Qaida leader's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad. U.S. commandos later killed bin Laden there in May 2011 in a unilateral raid.
Pakistani officials were outraged by the bin Laden operation, which led to international suspicion that they had been harboring al-Qaida's founder. In their eyes, Afridi was a traitor who had collaborated with a foreign spy agency in an illegal operation on Pakistani soil.
The case has caused friction between Pakistan and the United States, complicating a relationship that Washington views as vital for fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida, as well as negotiating an end to the war in neighboring Afghanistan.
In the U.S. and other Western nations, Afridi was viewed as a hero who had helped eliminate the world's most wanted man.
Officials in Washington have called for Afridi to be released. Yesterday, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told journalists that Afridi's continued detention 'sends exactly the wrong message.'
Critical intelligence: Dr Afridi ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA in an attempt to
verify the al-Qaida leader's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad (pictured)
'We hope this latest development leads to an outcome that reflects the fact that bringing Osama bin Laden to justice was clearly in Pakistan's interest - as well as ours,' Harf said.
The doctor was tried under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, or FCR, the set of laws that govern Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region. Human rights organizations have criticized the FCR for not providing suspects the right to legal representation, to present material evidence, or to cross-examine witnesses. Verdicts are handled by a government official in consultation with a council of elders.
Anis, a commissioner tasked with enforcing the FCR, ruled that Afridi will be re-tried under the regulations by the top political official in Khyber, Shah said. Afridi was previously tried by the official's assistant.
The doctor's lawyer, Samiullah Khan, welcomed the decision to order a re-trial, saying: 'I think it is a good achievement for us.' He called the original decision to sentence Afridi to 33 years in prison 'totally illegal.'
Dr Afridi's brother Jamil Khan Afridi welcomed Thursday's ruling, but also demanded that
the next trial should not be held behind closed doors
But Khan said he was concerned about the decision to once again hold the trial under the FCR. He would rather the case be heard by a judge under Pakistan's normal legal system.
Khan said he had not been able to share the news with his client. The doctor has been held in prison with little contact with the outside world, and the lawyer said it had been months since he'd seen his client.
Afridi's brother Jamil Khan Afridi welcomed Thursday's ruling, but also demanded that the next trial should not be held behind closed doors.
'He should be tried in an open court in the presence of media so that the world will know that my brother is innocent,' the brother said. He called the allegations against Afridi 'baseless.'
The brother said the last time authorities allowed him to meet with Afridi was in August 2012, although the doctor's wife and children were allowed to see him on July 10.
It's unclear whether a re-trial will result in Afridi being released or simply receiving a reduced sentence.
Freeing the doctor would remove a sore point between Pakistan and the U.S. at a time when relations have warmed relative to the dark days following the bin Laden raid. But the operation still causes consternation in Pakistan, and it could be politically difficult for the government if Afridi is released.