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CIA officers located at Khost
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were very excited about the possibility
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of being able to get a source
that might lead us to bin Laden.
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And so he wasn't searched.
He was basically waved through.
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There is the entire CIA team,
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contractors, special forces,
analysts, case officers.
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They've all come outside to be there
for his arrival.
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This is a potentially very big deal.
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There is so much tension.
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He got out on the other side of the car,
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and our security people
went around and said,
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"Take your hands out of your robes."
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And they got very concerned
because he wouldn't do it.
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They didn't understand
that the asset was the bomb.
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I was sitting on my family room floor,
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and I get a phone call.
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She's like,
"Tracy, there was a big explosion."
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I was like, "What are you talking about?"
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I… I don't think I even had the TV on.
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Right? Like, I didn't know
what had happened.
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Now to Afghanistan.
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Tonight, there are startling new facts
about the suicide attack
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that killed seven CIA officers.
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The attacker was invited
to enter that base,
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and he was not searched.
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This is for you.
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It's not watch. It's detonator.
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You will be sent to the hell.
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Here's a man
who had never been seen by the Americans,
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and yet they let him get into
this very secure CIA base.
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Then he is able to…
to explode this device.
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The flag at CIA headquarters
flew at half-staff today
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for seven of its own.
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Director Leon Panetta said they died
far from home and close to the enemy.
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Too close, it turned out.
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My colleague Jennifer Matthews
was the CIA base chief
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in Khost, Afghanistan.
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We were like a cadre.
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I had been working with Jennifer
on al-Qaida
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since before we knew it was al-Qaida.
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Then Gina called me and told me
Jennifer had been killed.
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It was so hard to hear.
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And I remember going to church,
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and the standard prayers,
everybody who served in the military.
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I'm like, "What about us?"
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"What about Jennifer?"
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It was just hard to hear
the stream of people from her childhood,
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you know, her kids, talk about her
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'cause of course,
they didn't know what she did.
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Mm-mm.
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I remember going to the funerals
of every single one of the CIA officers.
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And I noticed that, as we were driving
in very, very cold weather,
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I saw a family standing
on their front porch
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with a sign
that they were holding that said,
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"Thank you for keeping us safe."
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I remember
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talking to their family members.
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The parents I talked to said,
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"Don't give up on the mission
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that cost our loved one their life."
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"Don't give up on it."
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And the mission, obviously,
was to continue the search for bin Laden.
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I say to the American people
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that, God willing,
we will continue to kill you.
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If al-Qaida thought that
the Khost attack was gonna weaken us,
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they were dead wrong.
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It had directly the opposite effect.
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It steeled our resolve.
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Khost made it personal.
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Made it very personal.
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We're getting closer and closer
to the ten-year anniversary of 9/11,
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and there's an increased demand
and desire to find bin Laden.
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Osama bin Laden is still wanted,
still continuing to haunt Americans.
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A $25 million bounty remains
hanging over his head.
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We've supposedly got spies
and strike teams
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all over the place looking for him.
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How could this guy still be out there?
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We had had our heart broken so many times
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with all these terrible leads
and almost thinking we were there.
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"He's in this location, in that location."
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The military spun up more than once
trying to potentially capture him,
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but it never panned out.
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House is clear. Go ahead.
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It was…
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…so frustrating.
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It also begs the question
of just how intelligent
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our intelligence agencies really are.
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The CIA at that point
was under political attack
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from both parties, really.
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Isn't it a failure of your administration?
You haven't captured him.
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You don't seem to know where he is.
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Well…
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It, um…
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I… I think
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capturing or killing, uh, bin Laden
would be extremely important
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to our national security.
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There was an immense amount of pressure
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on CIA and the intelligence community
as a whole to do more.
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Double down on bin Laden and al-Qaida.
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{\an8}On the day of 9/11,
I was working at the Pentagon.
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On my branch,
I was the only, sole survivor.
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I was badly burned,
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but I was able to bounce back
and keep fighting every day thereafter.
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- How do you feel?
- I'm feeling great.
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Thank God.
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In 2009, a friend
reached out to me and said,
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"Kevin, we could really use your help
to be part of the bin Laden team."
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"As its one and only mission,
find bin Laden."
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I told my team, "Every week, I want you
to come into my office and report to me."
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"What you're looking at,
what you're finding,
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what clues do you have,
what possible evidence do you have?"
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Where could he have gone
if he fled Afghanistan? Where did he go?
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Is he still alive? You have
all these questions the whole time.
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And so,
when he made an appearance on television,
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it would be analyzed to death.
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We started focusing on every aspect
of bin Laden's media statements.
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We would listen
to bin Laden's tapes to see whether or not
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you could pick up the sound
of something that might tell you
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where he might be located.
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The sound of a bird
or the sound of industry.
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Is he sending hidden messages?
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What's in the background
that might give away where he might be?
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We also tried to trace
how his videos were delivered to the news.
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He had to have a way of getting messages
in and out of wherever he was.
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They were not trusting
any electronic devices
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or phones or anything,
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so they're probably going
by hand, by couriers.
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If we could find and locate,
track a courier,
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that would potentially lead us
to bin Laden's location.
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CIA followed every lead.
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This lead about the courier
starts way back in 2002.
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We knew there was an individual
who was a trusted bin Laden courier,
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and great efforts were taken
to identify that name.
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Detainees provided fake names.
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Some said there was no courier,
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and others said there was a courier,
but he had retired.
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It was extremely difficult
to unravel the lies about the courier.
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And then, in late 2002,
there was an al-Qaida operative
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in the custody
of a North African government
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who had been arrested
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and was being interrogated
about what he knew, who he knew.
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And in that interrogation,
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he mentioned that an individual,
who he said worked with bin Laden
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prior to 9/11
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and worked
with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed post-9/11
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and who was a courier between the two…
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And he said the name of the courier was…
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Abu Ahmed.
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That information, of course,
we were very interested in.
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We asked KSM,
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still being detained
in a secret CIA prison,
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"What do you know about Abu Ahmed?"
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KSM had undergone
enhanced interrogation techniques.
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He was telling us
pretty much anything we wanted to know.
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He told us, "Yeah, I heard of Abu Ahmed,
but he's not with al-Qaida anymore."
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He goes back to his cell,
which we have bugged,
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and he told
all the other al-Qaida operatives
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who were with him,
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"Nobody… nobody talk about the courier."
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KSM was doing everything he could
to protect the courier
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because he knew that Abu Ahmed
could take us to bin Laden.
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So we are zeroed in
on trying to find Abu Ahmed.
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Bin Laden and KSM couldn't
have picked a better person.
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He was exhibiting
a lot of good operational security
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that made it very difficult to find him.
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Eventually, we figured out he was Kuwaiti.
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We pursued every possible lead,
and we had no idea what he looked like.
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He was an enigma.
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It was a long, hard, steady strain
to try to determine his pattern of life,
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his movements, where he would travel to,
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what type of communications he was using,
how he was using those communications.
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We were worried about making mistakes
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that would inadvertently tip him off
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to the fact that we were looking for him.
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So all of that goes from 2002 to 2010.
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Eight years to find him,
you know, on the planet.
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In the summer of 2010,
we had a breakthrough moment.
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We tracked his phone
to a town in Pakistan called Peshawar…
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and we were able to pick up a phone call.
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He was talking
to somebody who knew him from the past.
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His friend was asking him,
"What are you doing now?"
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"I haven't heard from you.
I haven't seen you."
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00:12:01,387 --> 00:12:03,222
"Uh… what are you doing?"
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And he kept trying to say,
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"You know, I'm just…
I'm staying busy. I'm working."
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And his friend just didn't give up.
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He said, "Well, yeah,
but… but what are you doing?
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"What exactly are you doing?"
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And there was a moment of silence.
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And then he said,
"I'm doing what I did before."
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Immediately, the friend said,
"Then go with Allah."
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It was clear that what he had done
before is to work for bin Laden.
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We needed to have
human intelligence on the ground.
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People think about intelligence work
as analysts reading reports.
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I mean the people on the street.
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As a task force commander,
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I was based in Kabul,
and then I had places all over the region.
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We need intelligence
that validated all the information.
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What do we think we know?
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00:13:02,406 --> 00:13:04,992
What do we know we don't know?
What do we see?
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We watch the courier
get into a little white SUV.
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There are a lot of white SUVs in Pakistan.
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And our CIA officers followed it
from Peshawar
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to a town called Abbottabad.
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Finally, the vehicle pulled
into this large house.
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A bunch of indicators strongly suggested
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that there's something
going on in this house.
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This was very different
from anything that we had seen.
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What we saw was a compound
that was much larger
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than any compound in the area.
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We learned that the courier, Abu Ahmed,
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00:14:00,548 --> 00:14:03,217
had purchased the house in 2005,
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00:14:03,717 --> 00:14:07,972
in an expensive part of Abbottabad,
with no visible means of income.
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00:14:08,973 --> 00:14:11,642
There were walls
that were 12 to 18 foot high,
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00:14:11,725 --> 00:14:13,352
topped with barbed wire,
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and there was a balcony…
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…with a privacy wall.
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Abbottabad is known to be
a tourist area because of the mountains.
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00:14:27,324 --> 00:14:31,287
So why would you put
an eight-foot wall on the third floor?
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00:14:32,246 --> 00:14:35,291
The security of the top floor
is just weird.
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You know, you start
putting these pieces together.
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00:14:38,711 --> 00:14:41,505
This is someone
who didn't wanna be seen at all.
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00:14:42,590 --> 00:14:44,300
This was highly suspicious,
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00:14:44,383 --> 00:14:46,760
set off alarm bells across the team.
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It was pretty clear
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that somebody of high value
was located there.
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I immediately went
to the President of the United States
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00:15:06,530 --> 00:15:08,449
and briefed him on what we had found.
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We first briefed
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00:15:11,493 --> 00:15:13,829
senior Department of Defense official
Mike Vickers,
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00:15:13,913 --> 00:15:16,707
and Head of Counterterrorism
at the White House, John Brennan.
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00:15:17,833 --> 00:15:21,045
Michael Morell called me the day before
and let me know that this was gonna be
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00:15:21,128 --> 00:15:24,423
very sensitive information that was
gonna be passed to President Obama.
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00:15:24,924 --> 00:15:26,759
From this first meeting
with the president,
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00:15:27,509 --> 00:15:29,720
Leon Panetta comes in and said,
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00:15:29,803 --> 00:15:33,599
"We were able to geolocate
bin Laden's courier
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00:15:33,682 --> 00:15:36,769
and then follow him back,
and then here's this compound."
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00:15:38,896 --> 00:15:42,483
I said, "Mr. President,
we had a very high suspicion
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00:15:42,566 --> 00:15:45,402
that bin Laden
might possibly be located there."
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00:15:47,112 --> 00:15:51,867
President Obama was cautiously optimistic
that this might in fact be something
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00:15:51,951 --> 00:15:56,664
that we had never seen before
as far as an actual lead.
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00:15:57,289 --> 00:16:00,626
At the end of the briefing,
the president gave us two orders,
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00:16:00,709 --> 00:16:03,837
and Barack Obama was not
the giving orders type.
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00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,675
The first was, "Leon, Michael,
245
00:16:07,758 --> 00:16:10,844
find out what the hell is happening
in that compound."
246
00:16:12,012 --> 00:16:15,057
And number two, "Don't tell anyone."
247
00:16:16,767 --> 00:16:19,311
"This is the circle of trust, right here."
248
00:16:20,354 --> 00:16:23,482
"Nobody else in our government
is to know about this."
249
00:16:29,196 --> 00:16:32,199
We began constant surveillance,
250
00:16:32,282 --> 00:16:36,203
looking at everything
that went on in that compound.
251
00:16:37,705 --> 00:16:40,290
It's very difficult to get intelligence.
252
00:16:41,291 --> 00:16:44,420
There was no phone and no internet.
253
00:16:45,379 --> 00:16:47,506
The cell phones Abu Ahmed used,
254
00:16:47,589 --> 00:16:51,510
he didn't put the batteries in
until he was well away from Abbottabad.
255
00:16:53,220 --> 00:16:55,639
He practiced
extraordinary operational security.
256
00:16:58,892 --> 00:17:02,479
Director Panetta came up with
his own ideas for collecting intelligence.
257
00:17:03,272 --> 00:17:05,232
Like, "Can't we put
cameras in those trees?"
258
00:17:05,816 --> 00:17:08,819
Others thought,
"What if we could collect their garbage
259
00:17:08,902 --> 00:17:10,487
for possible clues?"
260
00:17:10,988 --> 00:17:14,158
But they would never allow
their garbage to be taken out.
261
00:17:14,241 --> 00:17:16,618
They basically burned their garbage.
262
00:17:17,870 --> 00:17:20,789
We were working with a doctor
to go to the compound,
263
00:17:20,873 --> 00:17:22,416
provide polio shots,
264
00:17:22,499 --> 00:17:24,710
and get a sample of the blood.
265
00:17:24,793 --> 00:17:30,049
Our hope was to be able to use that
to verify that it was bin Laden's family.
266
00:17:31,592 --> 00:17:34,511
The couriers refused
to allow them to come in.
267
00:17:35,262 --> 00:17:39,058
Over time,
we began seeing women and children
268
00:17:39,141 --> 00:17:41,185
coming in and out of the compound,
269
00:17:41,268 --> 00:17:44,021
so we start tracking them,
monitoring them.
270
00:17:44,104 --> 00:17:45,606
And what we discovered
271
00:17:45,689 --> 00:17:48,817
was that there were two families
living at the compound,
272
00:17:48,901 --> 00:17:50,569
Abu Ahmed and his brother.
273
00:17:56,450 --> 00:18:01,205
But when we looked very closely
at the satellite photography…
274
00:18:03,457 --> 00:18:06,001
we learn that
there's a third family in the house.
275
00:18:07,377 --> 00:18:09,296
It never leaves the compound.
276
00:18:12,049 --> 00:18:14,051
The children did not go to school,
277
00:18:14,134 --> 00:18:17,805
unlike all the other kids
in this particular part of Pakistan.
278
00:18:19,098 --> 00:18:22,226
We identified,
by looking at the clothesline,
279
00:18:23,268 --> 00:18:26,105
how many members of the family
were living there.
280
00:18:27,689 --> 00:18:31,026
We did have enough of a count
of children and the adults
281
00:18:31,110 --> 00:18:34,863
to create a high degree of suspicion
on who this third family might be.
282
00:18:46,667 --> 00:18:51,130
At one point, we saw
an individual who was a little older
283
00:18:51,213 --> 00:18:53,966
who would come out of the house
284
00:18:54,967 --> 00:18:58,929
and walk in circles,
like a prisoner in a prison yard.
285
00:19:01,056 --> 00:19:04,601
Every day, he would
come out and walk in the garden.
286
00:19:05,519 --> 00:19:06,520
Every day.
287
00:19:07,020 --> 00:19:08,313
We called him the Pacer.
288
00:19:09,523 --> 00:19:11,608
Using what's called mensuration,
289
00:19:11,692 --> 00:19:14,403
we see a person,
the sun is shining this way,
290
00:19:14,486 --> 00:19:15,737
it casts a shadow.
291
00:19:16,321 --> 00:19:18,157
Measure the size of the shadow,
292
00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,827
figure out the precise height
of whatever's making the shadow.
293
00:19:21,910 --> 00:19:25,038
And the precise height was
about the same height as Osama bin Laden.
294
00:19:26,582 --> 00:19:29,668
Literally, the hair
on the back of my neck stood up.
295
00:19:29,751 --> 00:19:33,005
"Oh my God, we may have found him."
296
00:19:34,756 --> 00:19:37,801
I had seen many
of the other leads to bin Laden.
297
00:19:37,885 --> 00:19:41,096
They were nothing
in terms of the same caliber of this one.
298
00:19:42,848 --> 00:19:46,143
I remember saying, "For
goodness' sakes, this could be bin Laden."
299
00:19:47,895 --> 00:19:52,191
"Do whatever you need to do
in order to get me a facial."
300
00:19:52,274 --> 00:19:55,652
And they said, "You know,
it's very difficult to do, Director."
301
00:19:55,736 --> 00:19:59,615
"We got 18-foot walls on one side,
12-foot walls on another side."
302
00:19:59,698 --> 00:20:01,116
"We can't get a good shot."
303
00:20:04,077 --> 00:20:06,330
And I remember saying to them, "You know,
304
00:20:06,413 --> 00:20:09,416
I've seen movies
where the CIA can do this."
305
00:20:10,209 --> 00:20:12,419
And we laughed. Everyone laughed.
306
00:20:12,502 --> 00:20:15,839
But they weren't able
to get a clear picture.
307
00:20:17,758 --> 00:20:21,220
Director Panetta puts
an immense amount of pressure
308
00:20:21,303 --> 00:20:23,472
on the Counterterrorism Center
to learn more.
309
00:20:27,643 --> 00:20:31,480
One day, I was asked
to come to the bin Laden unit at the CIA
310
00:20:31,563 --> 00:20:34,983
and give a briefing
on interviewing Osama bin Laden.
311
00:20:35,067 --> 00:20:38,779
And I'm like, "Mmm,
it's kind of an old story, but okay."
312
00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:44,034
I did the bin Laden interview in 1998.
313
00:20:44,618 --> 00:20:48,038
And it was the only interview
I've ever done in my lifetime
314
00:20:48,121 --> 00:20:50,415
that kept getting bigger afterwards.
315
00:20:52,626 --> 00:20:56,171
Now I'm sat down with the CIA
going through the footage.
316
00:21:00,968 --> 00:21:03,303
And I think
they're gonna be interested in,
317
00:21:03,387 --> 00:21:05,222
"What was the security like
around bin Laden?"
318
00:21:05,305 --> 00:21:07,432
"How did he move in? How did he move out?"
319
00:21:07,516 --> 00:21:08,850
Radio communications.
320
00:21:11,019 --> 00:21:14,106
So I'm going through it
in a good deal of detail,
321
00:21:15,357 --> 00:21:19,278
and they say, "Do you have
any extra footage of him walking around?"
322
00:21:20,153 --> 00:21:23,532
Why would they want
more film of him walking around?
323
00:21:29,037 --> 00:21:30,706
I had no idea at the time,
324
00:21:30,789 --> 00:21:36,336
but it turns out that they wanted footage
to determine if the gait, the slight limp,
325
00:21:36,420 --> 00:21:39,423
the posture of the Pacer
326
00:21:40,007 --> 00:21:42,092
matched bin Laden's walk
327
00:21:42,175 --> 00:21:45,470
from the closest footage
that anybody had of him walking,
328
00:21:45,554 --> 00:21:49,391
which was him coming
to that meeting with me in 1998,
329
00:21:50,267 --> 00:21:51,685
for comparison.
330
00:21:52,352 --> 00:21:53,645
But I had no idea about that.
331
00:21:55,272 --> 00:21:58,817
Although Miller's footage showed
there were similarities,
332
00:21:59,401 --> 00:22:02,612
it wasn't conclusive evidence
that bin Laden was there.
333
00:22:03,155 --> 00:22:05,824
Of course, I'm thinking
that that could be bin Laden.
334
00:22:05,907 --> 00:22:07,409
Everyone was thinking it.
335
00:22:07,909 --> 00:22:10,746
It's a matter of proving it to the degree
336
00:22:10,829 --> 00:22:14,833
that a decision maker felt confident
enough to take some action on that.
337
00:22:17,669 --> 00:22:19,629
Every week, they would report to me.
338
00:22:20,213 --> 00:22:24,468
Sometimes they would come in and say,
"We haven't found anything new."
339
00:22:24,551 --> 00:22:25,844
And I said to them,
340
00:22:26,762 --> 00:22:29,389
"That's not good enough.
That's not good enough."
341
00:22:31,183 --> 00:22:34,436
As a survival mechanism
for what you're dealing with at work,
342
00:22:34,519 --> 00:22:36,980
you become so detached from emotion.
343
00:22:38,690 --> 00:22:41,485
It was hard on so many levels.
344
00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:49,618
I was building
these movies of memories of my son,
345
00:22:49,701 --> 00:22:52,204
because he was getting ready
to graduate from high school,
346
00:22:52,287 --> 00:22:54,873
and all these movies
of things that he had done
347
00:22:55,665 --> 00:22:56,708
that I didn't remember.
348
00:22:58,627 --> 00:23:01,797
I had no memory
of these events in my son's life.
349
00:23:02,798 --> 00:23:03,799
And
350
00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,469
I remember
going into work that night angry.
351
00:23:08,470 --> 00:23:10,680
I had to really kind of grapple with,
352
00:23:11,264 --> 00:23:14,101
I chose to keep doing it.
353
00:23:18,063 --> 00:23:20,482
There was always a sense of,
"We're not doing enough,"
354
00:23:20,565 --> 00:23:21,942
you know, working weekends,
355
00:23:22,943 --> 00:23:25,112
you know, missing family members.
356
00:23:28,156 --> 00:23:29,783
And then my mom passed away
357
00:23:30,951 --> 00:23:32,828
during the middle of the hunt.
358
00:23:32,911 --> 00:23:33,954
And…
359
00:23:36,706 --> 00:23:38,834
I had told her before she died…
360
00:23:38,917 --> 00:23:41,795
You know, I said, "I'm working
on something really important."
361
00:23:42,879 --> 00:23:44,840
You know? "And hopefully, you'll…"
362
00:23:44,923 --> 00:23:47,134
"Hopefully, you'll end up seeing it."
363
00:23:49,428 --> 00:23:52,055
And so when she died of cancer,
364
00:23:52,139 --> 00:23:53,932
the only thing
that got me through my grief
365
00:23:54,015 --> 00:23:57,102
was having a really big responsibility.
366
00:23:57,185 --> 00:23:58,937
I knew we were making progress.
367
00:24:00,355 --> 00:24:03,984
But I was obsessed
with building the intelligence case
368
00:24:04,067 --> 00:24:06,236
that bin Laden was in that compound.
369
00:24:08,572 --> 00:24:13,910
At that point, the chances
of being able to acquire 100% certainty
370
00:24:13,994 --> 00:24:17,914
that he was there were extremely unlikely.
371
00:24:19,583 --> 00:24:24,504
There was also the fear that bin Laden
could realize that he'd been discovered.
372
00:24:26,131 --> 00:24:28,675
Bin Laden could leave that compound
at any moment,
373
00:24:28,758 --> 00:24:31,428
and so it was too much of a risk
to continue to collect.
374
00:24:41,897 --> 00:24:43,982
We were getting closer
to making a decision
375
00:24:44,065 --> 00:24:46,485
about taking action against the compound.
376
00:24:47,068 --> 00:24:50,363
So the president wanted to know
what were the prospects
377
00:24:50,447 --> 00:24:53,116
for us getting more intelligence,
378
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:55,869
being able to confirm
bin Laden's presence there.
379
00:24:57,579 --> 00:25:02,167
We did not have 100% evidence
that bin Laden was truly there.
380
00:25:03,001 --> 00:25:05,462
It was a circumstantial case.
381
00:25:06,421 --> 00:25:09,591
There was not a single piece
of direct evidence that he was there.
382
00:25:10,675 --> 00:25:13,845
I said, "Mr. President, you need to know
383
00:25:13,929 --> 00:25:19,059
that the case that Saddam had
weapons of mass destruction…"
384
00:25:23,063 --> 00:25:26,775
"…is stronger than the case
that bin Laden is at Abbottabad."
385
00:25:27,275 --> 00:25:29,402
You could've heard a pin drop
in that room.
386
00:25:31,571 --> 00:25:33,823
This is a major
national security decision.
387
00:25:35,242 --> 00:25:38,870
His political advisors told him that,
if this was a failed operation,
388
00:25:38,954 --> 00:25:43,792
that his public image
would be diminished significantly.
389
00:25:43,875 --> 00:25:47,003
So that… that, to me,
was the greatest political risk,
390
00:25:47,087 --> 00:25:50,715
is an operation that could kill
a bunch of US service members.
391
00:25:50,799 --> 00:25:51,800
A kind of Carter rerun.
392
00:25:52,759 --> 00:25:57,180
When the Islamic Revolution happened
in Iran, embassy gets overrun,
393
00:25:57,264 --> 00:25:58,932
a whole bunch of hostages get taken.
394
00:25:59,558 --> 00:26:03,687
President Carter ordered the helicopters
into Iran to rescue the hostages,
395
00:26:03,770 --> 00:26:06,898
and they crashed in the desert,
and a lot of people died.
396
00:26:07,399 --> 00:26:10,652
And it just made him look weak.
It made the US look weak.
397
00:26:11,152 --> 00:26:15,031
The Carter comparison was like,
"If this is a botched operation,
398
00:26:16,157 --> 00:26:17,826
the year before an election…"
399
00:26:17,909 --> 00:26:19,077
Carter didn't get reelected.
400
00:26:21,079 --> 00:26:24,833
I heard President Obama say,
"I don't care about the politics."
401
00:26:24,916 --> 00:26:26,126
"It's been too long
402
00:26:26,793 --> 00:26:30,630
that bin Laden has been able
to escape the hands of US justice."
403
00:26:31,715 --> 00:26:33,091
The president said,
404
00:26:33,174 --> 00:26:38,179
"I would like you to prepare operations
to go after this compound."
405
00:26:39,848 --> 00:26:42,892
He says, "I haven't decided to do this,
406
00:26:42,976 --> 00:26:46,271
but if we do, we're gonna do it
sooner rather than later."
407
00:26:46,938 --> 00:26:48,315
"Prepare the plan."
408
00:26:52,902 --> 00:26:54,029
A phone rang.
409
00:26:54,112 --> 00:26:56,197
It was the vice-chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
410
00:26:56,906 --> 00:27:00,577
He says, "Look, the CIA thinks
they have a lead on Osama bin Laden."
411
00:27:00,660 --> 00:27:03,622
His eyes lit up. This is a SEAL.
412
00:27:03,705 --> 00:27:05,582
This is like a dream come true.
413
00:27:06,416 --> 00:27:08,376
The business I'm in is hostage rescue
414
00:27:08,460 --> 00:27:10,837
and raids on terrorist organizations.
415
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:14,257
But this was the biggest mission,
uh, certainly in my career.
416
00:27:16,718 --> 00:27:19,554
A year earlier,
I'd been diagnosed with cancer,
417
00:27:19,638 --> 00:27:21,348
chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
418
00:27:22,390 --> 00:27:24,768
But the cancer had not evolved
to the point
419
00:27:24,851 --> 00:27:28,063
where it was, uh… it was taking away
from my ability to command.
420
00:27:28,730 --> 00:27:31,524
As unfortunate as it was,
it gave me cover for action,
421
00:27:31,608 --> 00:27:34,944
meaning that I had a plausible reason
for going back to the States.
422
00:27:35,945 --> 00:27:39,449
So I flew back to DC and I met
with the director of CIA, Leon Panetta,
423
00:27:40,408 --> 00:27:42,327
and he told me about this compound.
424
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:45,622
And I said, "Look, what I need you to do
425
00:27:45,705 --> 00:27:48,083
is to come up with an operation
426
00:27:48,166 --> 00:27:50,794
to go after this compound."
427
00:27:59,010 --> 00:28:01,471
We're gonna pick
the best people to do the job
428
00:28:01,554 --> 00:28:03,181
for the United States of America.
429
00:28:03,264 --> 00:28:05,392
We're gonna bring the SEALs in
for the mission.
430
00:28:06,935 --> 00:28:09,270
{\an8}SEAL Team 6 is
the Tier 1 unit in the Navy.
431
00:28:09,938 --> 00:28:13,274
{\an8}First, we had SEAL Team 1,
SEAL Team 2, and then around 1980,
432
00:28:13,358 --> 00:28:15,652
{\an8}Commander Richard Marcinko
commissioned SEAL Team 6.
433
00:28:15,735 --> 00:28:19,072
And the reason he named it 6 is
because he knew the Russians would say,
434
00:28:19,155 --> 00:28:21,574
"There's SEAL Team 1, SEAL Team 2,
and there's SEAL Team 6."
435
00:28:21,658 --> 00:28:24,703
"Where the hell are 3, 4, and 5?"
Which is good counterintelligence, right?
436
00:28:24,786 --> 00:28:27,497
I say, "It's not just a hat rack,
my friend. We're thinking."
437
00:28:30,417 --> 00:28:32,627
We'd just gotten back from Afghanistan,
438
00:28:32,711 --> 00:28:33,962
and we're in Miami, Florida,
439
00:28:34,045 --> 00:28:36,423
to do some diving
and get a little bit of liberty
440
00:28:36,506 --> 00:28:38,550
so we can hang out
with the boys on the beach.
441
00:28:41,094 --> 00:28:43,638
We're out there on the patio one night,
and we get a call
442
00:28:43,722 --> 00:28:46,641
that we're being recalled
to Virginia Beach, and we didn't know why.
443
00:28:46,725 --> 00:28:51,312
It was disappointing because the…
the spin-ups never turn into anything.
444
00:28:51,396 --> 00:28:53,189
You just get briefed
on a bunch of nonsense
445
00:28:53,273 --> 00:28:54,858
that doesn't have anything to do with me.
446
00:28:54,941 --> 00:28:56,109
And it just… it sucks, man.
447
00:28:56,192 --> 00:28:59,320
We've been looking forward to Miami
since I was in, uh… in Jalalabad.
448
00:29:01,197 --> 00:29:04,159
When I first brought them in,
I brought them in off leave,
449
00:29:04,242 --> 00:29:07,495
and I could tell from their body language
they weren't happy about this.
450
00:29:07,579 --> 00:29:09,539
They thought they were involved
in an exercise.
451
00:29:10,790 --> 00:29:12,876
We pulled up to a spot
that was unimpressive.
452
00:29:12,959 --> 00:29:15,295
It was like a small schoolhouse,
a one-story building.
453
00:29:15,378 --> 00:29:17,297
Armed guard outside.
We go in and sit down.
454
00:29:17,380 --> 00:29:20,550
And it's simply set up like a classroom.
Like, there's some whiteboards.
455
00:29:21,050 --> 00:29:24,053
We brought 'em into the
briefing room. The CIA briefer comes out.
456
00:29:24,137 --> 00:29:27,056
He explains to them they'll have to sign
these nondisclosure agreements,
457
00:29:27,140 --> 00:29:30,268
which, again, wasn't unusual, because
we did some pretty sensitive training.
458
00:29:31,352 --> 00:29:33,480
When the officer
for the CIA stood up there
459
00:29:33,563 --> 00:29:36,483
and I heard her say the word "Abbottabad…"
460
00:29:36,566 --> 00:29:38,193
And I'd never heard
of the city Abbottabad.
461
00:29:38,276 --> 00:29:39,986
It almost gives me goosebumps right now.
462
00:29:40,069 --> 00:29:43,531
Like, this is a city in
a different country you've never heard of.
463
00:29:44,115 --> 00:29:46,326
Then the commanding officer
of SEAL Team 6 walked up,
464
00:29:46,409 --> 00:29:48,119
as nonchalant as ever, and just said…
465
00:29:48,203 --> 00:29:50,371
"Gentlemen, we're going
after Osama bin Laden."
466
00:29:51,581 --> 00:29:53,541
"This target is Osama bin Laden."
467
00:29:54,167 --> 00:29:55,919
Most wanted terrorist in history.
468
00:29:58,546 --> 00:30:01,841
I thought, "This is the most important
mission in modern history."
469
00:30:02,926 --> 00:30:05,220
"What an honor.
What a great team to be a part of."
470
00:30:05,804 --> 00:30:08,181
One thing they said, though,
was "This is time sensitive."
471
00:30:08,264 --> 00:30:11,559
"We've got a couple weeks
until there's 0% illumination
472
00:30:11,643 --> 00:30:14,354
in the lunar cycle, and we're gonna launch
on one of those two days."
473
00:30:16,648 --> 00:30:18,358
"Gentlemen, this is not an exercise."
474
00:30:18,441 --> 00:30:21,444
"We've got a job to do,
and let's get out and start preparing."
475
00:30:24,864 --> 00:30:27,909
Our job was preparing them
for what they're about to do.
476
00:30:27,992 --> 00:30:30,745
Um, it's giving them the tools
to do what they have to do.
477
00:30:30,829 --> 00:30:33,289
And in this case,
we did something a little bit different.
478
00:30:34,791 --> 00:30:38,711
We determined that we could literally
build the compound as it exists
479
00:30:38,795 --> 00:30:39,963
for them to practice.
480
00:30:40,630 --> 00:30:43,049
The CIA built us a mock-up.
481
00:30:43,132 --> 00:30:46,761
The exterior looked
like Osama bin Laden's compound.
482
00:30:47,470 --> 00:30:50,598
So that we could have
the SEALs come in and rehearse
483
00:30:50,682 --> 00:30:53,017
through their tactical movement
on the objective.
484
00:30:55,186 --> 00:30:57,647
Helicopter pilots
rehearsed their profiles.
485
00:30:57,730 --> 00:31:01,109
SEALs could fast rope down
onto the top of the three-story building
486
00:31:01,192 --> 00:31:02,485
and into the courtyard.
487
00:31:02,986 --> 00:31:06,155
We did that so much over and over,
the wrists are starting to hurt.
488
00:31:06,239 --> 00:31:08,950
You're getting tendinitis.
It was almost to the point where,
489
00:31:09,033 --> 00:31:11,828
"Look, we've proven we can fast rope.
We don't need to keep doing this."
490
00:31:13,037 --> 00:31:15,999
We knew the shape of it.
We knew where the buildings were.
491
00:31:16,791 --> 00:31:19,335
What we didn't know is,
what did it look like inside?
492
00:31:20,295 --> 00:31:22,881
Was it an open space,
or did you walk into a corridor
493
00:31:22,964 --> 00:31:25,091
with a room on the left
and a room on the right?
494
00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:28,261
So the structure was modular.
495
00:31:29,929 --> 00:31:31,598
- I'm in.
- Room clear!
496
00:31:31,681 --> 00:31:33,600
It changed every time they went through.
497
00:31:33,683 --> 00:31:34,684
Here.
498
00:31:34,767 --> 00:31:38,021
They were so good about it that they could
break the compound down every single night
499
00:31:38,104 --> 00:31:40,982
just in case enemy satellites
were flying over the top.
500
00:31:46,487 --> 00:31:48,531
The number of times
they did their training
501
00:31:48,615 --> 00:31:50,742
numbers over a hundred.
502
00:31:50,825 --> 00:31:54,704
You plan, and you plan, and you plan,
and you rehearse, and you rehearse,
503
00:31:54,787 --> 00:31:57,540
and you rehearse,
and you look at every single contingency.
504
00:31:57,624 --> 00:31:59,208
Everything that seems simple,
505
00:31:59,292 --> 00:32:01,419
like "Where in the helicopter
are you gonna sit?"
506
00:32:01,502 --> 00:32:04,005
"What are you gonna sit on?
Are you using this kind of a chair?"
507
00:32:04,088 --> 00:32:06,466
"Where does the dog go?
Let's simulate that a car left."
508
00:32:06,549 --> 00:32:08,509
"Let's simulate
the fast rope didn't work."
509
00:32:08,593 --> 00:32:10,720
"What happens if this guy gets shot?"
510
00:32:10,803 --> 00:32:12,430
"What happens if this room blows up?"
511
00:32:12,513 --> 00:32:15,975
"What happens if we're down
from 24 guys to 12 guys?"
512
00:32:17,185 --> 00:32:20,104
I can tell you they destroyed things
that had to be fixed.
513
00:32:20,188 --> 00:32:21,773
Back out!
514
00:32:24,150 --> 00:32:26,945
And we would then go back in
and… and rebuild that.
515
00:32:28,529 --> 00:32:30,657
"What did we do good? What did we do bad?"
516
00:32:30,740 --> 00:32:33,868
Twelve hours a day, maybe longer
than that, rehearsing and planning.
517
00:32:33,952 --> 00:32:36,371
Then, we'd go back to the barracks
where we were staying,
518
00:32:36,454 --> 00:32:39,123
and we'd stand around the model,
and we'd talk about it.
519
00:32:39,207 --> 00:32:41,334
"Was there gonna be
some sort of ridiculous contraption
520
00:32:41,417 --> 00:32:44,420
with a slide that comes out
of the top floor into the alley?"
521
00:32:44,504 --> 00:32:46,589
"Can someone
climb out of the sewage system?"
522
00:32:46,673 --> 00:32:48,341
And one night, one of the bosses said,
523
00:32:48,424 --> 00:32:50,385
"What's the worst thing
that could happen?"
524
00:32:50,468 --> 00:32:51,803
The youngest guy in the room said,
525
00:32:51,886 --> 00:32:53,888
"The helicopter could crash
in the front yard."
526
00:32:54,889 --> 00:32:56,933
And we're kind of
looking at him like, "Wh…
527
00:32:57,016 --> 00:32:58,685
"Why would you jinx us like that?"
528
00:33:03,147 --> 00:33:06,234
The main staging base for the operation
529
00:33:06,317 --> 00:33:09,445
was in Jalalabad,
on the Afghanistan side of the border.
530
00:33:09,529 --> 00:33:14,784
Between those 350 kilometers
are all kinds of problems.
531
00:33:14,867 --> 00:33:18,955
Risks were significant.
You're flying in Pakistani airspace.
532
00:33:19,455 --> 00:33:24,293
The compound was right near Pakistan's
West Point, its military academy,
533
00:33:24,377 --> 00:33:27,171
and other important
military installations.
534
00:33:27,714 --> 00:33:31,801
So they were training military officers
there in Abbottabad.
535
00:33:32,969 --> 00:33:36,764
A lot of care must be taken
because, if a threat is detected,
536
00:33:36,848 --> 00:33:38,433
who knows what they will do?
537
00:33:39,976 --> 00:33:43,646
President Obama was clear that
we're not going to inform the Pakistanis,
538
00:33:43,730 --> 00:33:47,900
because Pakistani intelligence has worked
both sides of the fence for many years,
539
00:33:47,984 --> 00:33:50,278
and they had relationships
540
00:33:50,361 --> 00:33:52,864
with a lot of the militant
terrorist groups in the area,
541
00:33:52,947 --> 00:33:54,782
including with al-Qaida.
542
00:33:54,866 --> 00:33:57,994
And so we could be in a war with Pakistan.
543
00:33:58,578 --> 00:34:01,581
With an army, special forces,
an intelligence service, an air force,
544
00:34:01,664 --> 00:34:04,042
an armored force, nuclear weapons.
545
00:34:04,667 --> 00:34:07,587
Can we get those 162 miles undetected?
546
00:34:07,670 --> 00:34:10,882
So we take a look at where
all the Pakistani radar systems are,
547
00:34:10,965 --> 00:34:14,510
and what the swath of the radar looks
like, and you're gonna try to avoid that.
548
00:34:15,136 --> 00:34:18,431
There were so many variables
flying into Pakistan.
549
00:34:18,514 --> 00:34:21,726
From getting shot down on the way in
to getting shot down on the way out.
550
00:34:21,809 --> 00:34:24,228
Even joking around,
I remember talking to guys like,
551
00:34:24,312 --> 00:34:26,939
"We need to take this more serious.
This is a one-way mission."
552
00:34:27,565 --> 00:34:31,569
"We're not comin' back from this.
This is the last mission we're gonna do."
553
00:34:33,404 --> 00:34:36,908
And then we walked around a corner
in a hangar, and we saw these helicopters.
554
00:34:38,326 --> 00:34:42,830
We had two classified forms of helicopters
555
00:34:42,914 --> 00:34:46,042
that were harder to detect by radar.
556
00:34:46,125 --> 00:34:48,461
We were kind of laughing.
I remember the conversation was,
557
00:34:48,544 --> 00:34:51,964
"Well, our chances of surviving
increased just now
558
00:34:52,048 --> 00:34:55,426
because, you know, we didn't know
we were going to war on Transformers."
559
00:34:56,511 --> 00:34:59,138
This would be the first mission
with these new helicopters.
560
00:34:59,639 --> 00:35:02,850
I'm not sure how much testing they'd done,
but we knew we had serious technology.
561
00:35:03,518 --> 00:35:06,813
All these operations are very scary.
It's why we bring machine guns.
562
00:35:07,730 --> 00:35:10,149
It's very high risk,
it's extremely dangerous,
563
00:35:10,233 --> 00:35:11,526
and it has to work.
564
00:35:16,948 --> 00:35:18,783
Admiral McRaven came up with the idea
565
00:35:18,866 --> 00:35:21,744
that "We're gonna send you guys
to Jalalabad, Afghanistan,
566
00:35:21,828 --> 00:35:23,204
in case you get a green light."
567
00:35:23,287 --> 00:35:24,747
"You'll be ready to rock and roll."
568
00:35:28,626 --> 00:35:30,753
It was always hard
to say goodbye to the kids.
569
00:35:30,837 --> 00:35:35,591
And unfortunately, being a SEAL Team 6,
that was something we were used to.
570
00:35:37,552 --> 00:35:39,428
That's just something I did with my kids.
571
00:35:39,512 --> 00:35:42,390
From the time they were babies
till the time that I left the Navy,
572
00:35:42,473 --> 00:35:44,934
you gotta say goodbye.
You gotta rip the Band-Aid off,
573
00:35:45,017 --> 00:35:47,436
and at some point,
you just gotta give them that last kiss,
574
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:49,272
turn around, and that's it.
575
00:35:56,154 --> 00:35:59,740
Did they know you were
saying goodbye and you may not come back?
576
00:35:59,824 --> 00:36:01,576
Yeah, they were smart enough to know,
577
00:36:01,659 --> 00:36:04,787
and they had friends that their dads
never did come home, so they knew.
578
00:36:23,181 --> 00:36:28,311
The moment came
to brief the National Security Council.
579
00:36:30,354 --> 00:36:31,939
I know Obama very well.
580
00:36:32,023 --> 00:36:35,985
That was kind of one of my jobs,
was to be the guy that knew Obama.
581
00:36:36,068 --> 00:36:37,778
You could kind of feel his body language,
582
00:36:37,862 --> 00:36:42,116
like he was going to be
taking a gamble on this, you know?
583
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:44,911
He was so dialed in to this whole thing.
584
00:36:45,912 --> 00:36:48,956
The president polled all of the principals
585
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:51,918
about whether they thought
we should go ahead with the raid or not.
586
00:36:53,336 --> 00:36:54,587
A lot of mixed views.
587
00:36:55,171 --> 00:36:56,964
A lot of people raised questions.
588
00:36:58,424 --> 00:37:00,801
Secretary Clinton
came out in support of it.
589
00:37:00,885 --> 00:37:03,346
Jim Clapper,
the Director of National Intelligence,
590
00:37:03,429 --> 00:37:05,890
and I were very supportive of it as well.
591
00:37:06,474 --> 00:37:10,311
When it got to me, I just said,
"Yeah, you always said you'd do this."
592
00:37:10,394 --> 00:37:13,439
But there were a lot of arguments
against it.
593
00:37:14,982 --> 00:37:16,484
The vice president voted no.
594
00:37:17,068 --> 00:37:19,320
He did not think
the intelligence was good enough,
595
00:37:19,403 --> 00:37:23,824
and he was concerned about
the impact on US-Pakistani relations.
596
00:37:25,034 --> 00:37:27,411
And Bob Gates, the Secretary of Defense,
597
00:37:27,495 --> 00:37:30,665
was concerned
about the safety of the force.
598
00:37:30,748 --> 00:37:34,877
Bob Gates, who was in the
US government when we did Desert One,
599
00:37:34,961 --> 00:37:40,716
his opposition to doing the raid
was a Desert One-style helicopter crash.
600
00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:44,470
So, Gates said this, and I was like,
"Oh God, don't say it out loud,"
601
00:37:44,553 --> 00:37:48,683
because what if that happened and then
these meetings all get out, right?
602
00:37:48,766 --> 00:37:50,977
Look, I'm just here talking to you.
Like, you know.
603
00:37:51,060 --> 00:37:53,396
It would have gotten out
that, you know, someone raised this,
604
00:37:53,479 --> 00:37:56,482
and "Oh my God,
you know, uh, Obama ignored it."
605
00:37:59,527 --> 00:38:01,612
The president listened to all of that,
606
00:38:02,655 --> 00:38:05,157
but said,
"Let me take it into consideration."
607
00:38:07,201 --> 00:38:10,955
President Obama said
that he would make a final decision
608
00:38:11,580 --> 00:38:13,791
and wanted
to think about it more overnight.
609
00:38:30,725 --> 00:38:32,768
The next morning,
I remember it very clearly,
610
00:38:32,852 --> 00:38:34,186
I was at headquarters,
611
00:38:35,980 --> 00:38:39,358
and Tom Donilon,
the National Security Advisor, called me,
612
00:38:40,401 --> 00:38:43,654
said, "The president's decided
to go with the mission."
613
00:38:43,738 --> 00:38:45,364
This is a big bet.
614
00:38:45,448 --> 00:38:47,658
We're betting that bin Laden's there,
615
00:38:47,742 --> 00:38:50,244
and we're betting
that we can pull this off,
616
00:38:50,328 --> 00:38:53,873
but this is the best shot we…
we're ever gonna have on bin Laden.
617
00:38:53,956 --> 00:38:55,916
Yes. Let's go.
618
00:39:06,886 --> 00:39:09,722
24 hours before the raid itself,
619
00:39:10,890 --> 00:39:13,642
there was a major event in Washington,
620
00:39:14,268 --> 00:39:16,604
the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
621
00:39:18,230 --> 00:39:20,983
And so we all decided
that we would show up,
622
00:39:21,067 --> 00:39:24,278
otherwise, if we didn't,
questions would be raised.
623
00:39:24,362 --> 00:39:27,573
Going to the White House
Correspondents' Dinner that night
624
00:39:27,656 --> 00:39:30,159
was one of the strangest experiences
in my life.
625
00:39:30,242 --> 00:39:32,078
The President of the United States.
626
00:39:35,498 --> 00:39:39,210
People who were involved
in this, from the president on down,
627
00:39:39,293 --> 00:39:42,588
understood the importance of secrecy.
628
00:39:44,757 --> 00:39:46,842
And so
the Correspondents' Dinner, I think,
629
00:39:46,926 --> 00:39:49,095
was in some respects a good cover…
630
00:39:49,178 --> 00:39:51,013
…because it was business as usual.
631
00:39:51,097 --> 00:39:55,351
It's wonderful to be here
at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
632
00:39:56,268 --> 00:39:57,645
- Whoo!
- What a week.
633
00:40:00,523 --> 00:40:02,066
It was difficult.
634
00:40:02,566 --> 00:40:05,403
I had tremendous respect for his ability
635
00:40:05,486 --> 00:40:07,863
to basically play the part…
636
00:40:08,489 --> 00:40:10,282
…of President of the United States.
637
00:40:10,366 --> 00:40:13,411
It's good to be back
with so many esteemed guests,
638
00:40:14,036 --> 00:40:15,996
essential government employees…
639
00:40:17,456 --> 00:40:19,750
Non-essential government employees.
640
00:40:19,834 --> 00:40:21,001
You know who you are.
641
00:40:21,085 --> 00:40:25,172
And then a comedian got up
and made jokes about the bin Laden issue.
642
00:40:25,881 --> 00:40:28,426
{\an8}People think bin Laden
is hiding in the Hindu Kush,
643
00:40:28,509 --> 00:40:30,511
{\an8}but did you know that every day,
from four to five,
644
00:40:30,594 --> 00:40:32,680
{\an8}he hosts a show on C-SPAN?
645
00:40:36,058 --> 00:40:37,143
{\an8}Everybody laughed.
646
00:40:37,726 --> 00:40:40,354
And we all kind of deep down thought,
647
00:40:40,855 --> 00:40:42,148
"If only you knew
648
00:40:43,732 --> 00:40:44,775
what I knew."
649
00:40:45,985 --> 00:40:48,195
And what was gonna happen the next day.
650
00:40:48,988 --> 00:40:51,824
{\an8}The most classified operation
651
00:40:53,367 --> 00:40:55,035
{\an8}in the last 20 years.
652
00:40:55,119 --> 00:40:57,496
{\an8}Thank you and good night.
653
00:41:14,346 --> 00:41:17,766
The next morning was
Sunday morning, so I went to Mass,
654
00:41:18,767 --> 00:41:21,187
and used that opportunity
to pray a great deal
655
00:41:21,270 --> 00:41:24,315
about what was gonna happen that day.
656
00:41:25,274 --> 00:41:27,693
Prayed that, hopefully,
we'd be successful.
657
00:41:29,778 --> 00:41:33,240
I left church
and went directly to the CIA.
658
00:41:38,162 --> 00:41:40,331
The day of the raid. It's time.
659
00:41:40,956 --> 00:41:43,459
A lot of the preparations
in the Counterterrorism Center
660
00:41:43,542 --> 00:41:45,836
in the United States were made in silence.
661
00:41:46,587 --> 00:41:47,505
We were all on edge.
662
00:41:48,589 --> 00:41:52,134
My role for this
was to be a communication relay.
663
00:41:53,469 --> 00:41:55,429
Tina was in the cubicle next to me.
664
00:41:56,180 --> 00:41:58,182
I didn't sleep the night before.
665
00:41:58,265 --> 00:41:59,892
It was tremendous pressure.
666
00:42:00,851 --> 00:42:04,230
It was the first time
that I felt a shade of doubt.
667
00:42:05,272 --> 00:42:08,984
Having worked this lead
and we're now sending troops
668
00:42:09,068 --> 00:42:10,778
potentially in harm's way,
669
00:42:10,861 --> 00:42:12,780
all of us felt a responsibility.
670
00:42:14,073 --> 00:42:16,534
It all became much more real.
671
00:42:20,412 --> 00:42:23,624
We were either going to have
an incredible success
672
00:42:23,707 --> 00:42:25,209
or a horrible failure.
673
00:42:26,919 --> 00:42:28,462
The SEALs were family men.
674
00:42:28,963 --> 00:42:31,924
My job was to make sure
I put them in a position to be successful.
675
00:42:32,007 --> 00:42:33,884
And that's all I was worried about.
676
00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:39,056
We'd done the things with
the wills, with the powers of attorney,
677
00:42:39,139 --> 00:42:41,600
to make sure your family's
taken care of in the event you die.
678
00:42:41,684 --> 00:42:44,520
But this mission is one
where we're probably not gonna make it,
679
00:42:44,603 --> 00:42:47,356
so I need to handwrite
letters to everyone.
680
00:42:47,439 --> 00:42:51,652
And I remember handwriting letters
to my kids, and it was more of, um…
681
00:42:52,403 --> 00:42:55,864
"I'm sorry that I wasn't there for this,"
with tears hitting the page.
682
00:43:03,372 --> 00:43:05,708
I got to the White House very early.
683
00:43:05,791 --> 00:43:08,460
During the weekend, you will have
individuals coming in for tours.
684
00:43:09,670 --> 00:43:11,714
But we canceled each of them
685
00:43:11,797 --> 00:43:14,675
because it would have sparked
a lot of concern
686
00:43:14,758 --> 00:43:16,260
if people walking through the halls
687
00:43:16,343 --> 00:43:19,388
saw a lot of senior officials
coming in on a Sunday.
688
00:43:21,682 --> 00:43:24,768
Many of us convened
in the White House Situation Room early.
689
00:43:25,352 --> 00:43:28,147
You're anxious.
You're… you're worried. You're nervous.
690
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:32,735
It really had the feel
of a command center.
691
00:43:32,818 --> 00:43:35,029
Obama's sitting at the head of the table.
692
00:43:35,112 --> 00:43:36,447
Then he's got, basically,
693
00:43:36,530 --> 00:43:39,116
his senior cabinet-level people
sitting around the table.
694
00:43:39,199 --> 00:43:41,410
Bob Gates, Hillary Clinton.
695
00:43:41,493 --> 00:43:43,996
You had Leon Panetta on one screen.
696
00:43:44,079 --> 00:43:47,666
He's at the CIA in kind of
their version of a situation room
697
00:43:47,750 --> 00:43:48,834
with a bunch of people.
698
00:43:48,917 --> 00:43:52,880
And then on the other screen
is Admiral McRaven, who's in Jalalabad.
699
00:43:55,174 --> 00:43:58,552
It was tremendous anticipation.
700
00:44:00,638 --> 00:44:03,474
The commander in chief,
he's the one who gave the order.
701
00:44:03,557 --> 00:44:05,893
He's the one who had the most on the line.
702
00:44:07,394 --> 00:44:10,189
There's a look on his face.
It is, like, really intense.
703
00:44:10,272 --> 00:44:12,107
But you could tell
he was a little nervous too.
704
00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:22,743
We have connectivity
with Admiral McRaven in Jalalabad,
705
00:44:23,327 --> 00:44:24,912
which is where he is.
706
00:44:30,668 --> 00:44:32,503
I didn't get a lot of sleep before.
707
00:44:33,587 --> 00:44:37,716
This was a potentially historic moment.
I just didn't want anything to go wrong.
708
00:44:39,885 --> 00:44:42,805
I had told the guys, "Okay, we got
a job to do. Let's go get the job done."
709
00:44:44,139 --> 00:44:47,810
Bin Laden's code name is Geronimo.
That was agreed to in advance.
710
00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:52,981
There is so much tension
that something could go wrong.
711
00:44:53,607 --> 00:44:55,859
And what if bin Laden is not there?
712
00:44:59,029 --> 00:45:03,075
I remember the call out
that the helos were launched and thinking,
713
00:45:03,951 --> 00:45:04,868
"Here we go."
714
00:45:09,540 --> 00:45:12,835
No one's ever flown in these before.
How do I keep my mind off it?
715
00:45:12,918 --> 00:45:15,254
"Think of something simple.
I know how to count. I'll count."
716
00:45:15,337 --> 00:45:17,589
"One, two, three, four."
717
00:45:19,091 --> 00:45:20,384
So I'm counting.
718
00:45:20,467 --> 00:45:22,886
And then around 557,
I just remember saying,
719
00:45:23,470 --> 00:45:25,889
"Freedom itself was attacked this morning
by a faceless coward,
720
00:45:25,973 --> 00:45:27,808
and freedom will be defended."
721
00:45:27,891 --> 00:45:30,936
That's what President Bush said on 9/11.
I don't know how I remembered that.
722
00:45:31,019 --> 00:45:33,397
But I'm like, "Forget counting.
I'm gonna say that again."
723
00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:35,941
"Freedom itself was attacked this morning
by a faceless coward,
724
00:45:36,024 --> 00:45:37,234
and freedom will be defended."
725
00:45:37,317 --> 00:45:40,404
That's when it's like,
"All right, I'm on this mission."
726
00:45:40,904 --> 00:45:43,532
"This is the team,
and we're gonna kill him."
727
00:45:46,702 --> 00:45:49,037
They leave Jalalabad,
728
00:45:49,830 --> 00:45:53,333
and there's a period of time
where they're flying in Afghan airspace,
729
00:45:53,417 --> 00:45:54,752
and you're breathing easy.
730
00:45:57,045 --> 00:46:00,090
And then there's a moment
when they cross the border into Pakistan,
731
00:46:00,883 --> 00:46:02,718
and your worry level goes way up.
732
00:46:03,844 --> 00:46:06,180
When does the Pakistani military
detect them?
733
00:46:08,974 --> 00:46:12,269
The Pakistanis
had shot at us before, a number of times.
734
00:46:13,687 --> 00:46:16,857
There was no doubt in my mind that if
the Pakistanis picked up the helicopters
735
00:46:16,940 --> 00:46:20,235
and they thought it was a US force
coming in, they would engage us.
736
00:46:20,986 --> 00:46:23,947
It was so tense.
We were listening very closely
737
00:46:24,031 --> 00:46:26,909
to see if there's any indication
that they'd been detected.
738
00:46:29,536 --> 00:46:31,663
And now, we're at a point where
739
00:46:31,747 --> 00:46:33,791
this is where we find out
if the technology works.
740
00:46:36,335 --> 00:46:40,547
While these guys are in the air
for this hour-plus helicopter ride
741
00:46:40,631 --> 00:46:42,257
in Pakistani airspace,
742
00:46:42,341 --> 00:46:45,219
there's this kind of interregnum
sitting in a room in Washington
743
00:46:45,302 --> 00:46:47,012
because there's literally nothing to do.
744
00:46:47,805 --> 00:46:51,016
So Obama takes a break.
He says, like, "I'm gonna go upstairs."
745
00:46:51,099 --> 00:46:54,561
You know, "Let me know
when I need to come back," basically.
746
00:46:54,645 --> 00:46:56,063
He goes up there to play cards.
747
00:46:56,146 --> 00:46:59,650
He compulsively played spades
when he… he was nervous
748
00:46:59,733 --> 00:47:01,819
or just needed to distract himself.
749
00:47:02,569 --> 00:47:05,656
We're all just kind of sitting around, and
750
00:47:06,532 --> 00:47:08,700
we started to just chat about 9/11.
751
00:47:09,952 --> 00:47:11,578
People standing up, drinking coffee, like,
752
00:47:11,662 --> 00:47:13,789
"Yeah, you know,
this is what I was doing, and…"
753
00:47:15,707 --> 00:47:18,877
There was this natural reversion
to that day.
754
00:47:23,465 --> 00:47:25,717
You realize that, kind of,
we were all somehow
755
00:47:26,844 --> 00:47:29,137
there because of bin Laden.
756
00:47:30,305 --> 00:47:31,682
And then Obama comes back,
757
00:47:32,266 --> 00:47:34,643
and right across the hall,
758
00:47:34,726 --> 00:47:38,355
there's a small conference room
with a general monitoring this operation.
759
00:47:39,731 --> 00:47:41,775
And Obama, he goes in there,
760
00:47:41,859 --> 00:47:45,028
and so then,
everybody kind of starts to fill in
761
00:47:45,112 --> 00:47:46,905
to this tiny little conference room.
762
00:47:48,365 --> 00:47:50,784
And McRaven
basically just starts narrating.
763
00:47:50,868 --> 00:47:53,704
He's the… the voice of God
for this whole operation.
764
00:47:54,955 --> 00:47:58,125
A real anxious moment
was about two minutes out from the target.
765
00:47:59,251 --> 00:48:01,545
That was a huge point of vulnerability,
766
00:48:01,628 --> 00:48:04,965
because the Pakistani West Point
was in close proximity,
767
00:48:05,465 --> 00:48:08,844
and it was a couple of miles
from the major infantry battalion.
768
00:48:09,428 --> 00:48:13,765
So we could have hundreds of soldiers
attack the SEALs.
769
00:48:14,308 --> 00:48:16,810
We would be surrounded by Pakistanis.
770
00:48:17,728 --> 00:48:20,397
The president was very clear that,
if you get in that situation,
771
00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:22,149
be prepared to fight your way out.
772
00:48:24,026 --> 00:48:28,030
We didn't want to have
some type of hostage situation
773
00:48:28,113 --> 00:48:30,824
of our forces being held
by the Pakistanis.
774
00:48:32,492 --> 00:48:35,954
The air crew guy reaches over,
and he opens the door.
775
00:48:36,455 --> 00:48:39,458
We're looking out the window,
two minutes away from bin Laden's house.
776
00:48:39,541 --> 00:48:42,461
We're not in a training area anymore.
This place has electricity.
777
00:48:42,544 --> 00:48:44,671
We're in a resort part of Pakistan.
778
00:48:47,132 --> 00:48:49,301
The perfect plan is,
they'll hover, we'll drop guys off.
779
00:48:49,384 --> 00:48:51,428
My team's going to the roof.
We'll hit 'em like this.
780
00:48:51,511 --> 00:48:54,222
That's the perfect plan,
and that's when all hell broke loose.
781
00:48:59,728 --> 00:49:03,482
As the helicopters
were settling over the compound…
782
00:49:05,943 --> 00:49:08,487
one of the helicopters,
it… it kind of quivered.
783
00:49:09,988 --> 00:49:11,823
It falls hard.
784
00:49:14,117 --> 00:49:15,118
It crashes.
785
00:49:17,663 --> 00:49:19,206
It's that moment when
786
00:49:20,290 --> 00:49:22,501
your stomach comes up to your mouth.
787
00:49:24,211 --> 00:49:26,171
I was only a few feet away from Obama.
788
00:49:27,255 --> 00:49:30,926
He had this look
of profound shock and concern.
789
00:49:31,009 --> 00:49:33,387
It was like,
"Oh. The Desert One thing is happening."
790
00:49:33,470 --> 00:49:36,556
I thought, "Oh my God,
we may have lost people
791
00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:39,351
as a result of… of this lead
that we've been pursuing."
792
00:49:39,434 --> 00:49:42,646
Everyone's on pins and needles
waiting and waiting
793
00:49:42,729 --> 00:49:44,815
to see if there was going to be
any type of response.
794
00:49:45,899 --> 00:49:48,986
Ultimately, the people in the neighborhood
are responding. Lights are coming on.
795
00:49:50,946 --> 00:49:51,989
And in that moment,
796
00:49:52,072 --> 00:49:54,741
the operation was compromised
on social media.
797
00:49:56,618 --> 00:49:58,870
A lot of people knew a helicopter crashed.
798
00:50:00,664 --> 00:50:02,207
They didn't know it was American.
799
00:50:02,290 --> 00:50:04,334
They assumed it to be
a Pakistani helicopter.
800
00:50:09,339 --> 00:50:11,717
From a counterintelligence perspective,
that's a fail.
801
00:50:12,467 --> 00:50:15,053
That's an indicator and a warning also
for Pakistani intelligence.
802
00:50:17,222 --> 00:50:20,100
You could see the mission in danger.
803
00:50:22,102 --> 00:50:24,896
I said to Bill McRaven,
"What the hell's going on?"
804
00:50:25,647 --> 00:50:26,773
I knew the guys were okay.
805
00:50:26,857 --> 00:50:28,984
I could see them
getting out of the helicopter quickly.
806
00:50:29,067 --> 00:50:31,111
But what happened was,
when the helicopter came in,
807
00:50:31,194 --> 00:50:35,157
the down blast from that helicopter
hit that 18-foot-high wall
808
00:50:35,240 --> 00:50:38,201
and created a vortex,
and the helicopter lost lift.
809
00:50:38,285 --> 00:50:41,663
Swings over and then hard lands
into the animal pen.
810
00:50:42,164 --> 00:50:46,710
Bill didn't miss a beat. He said,
"I've called in a backup helicopter."
811
00:50:46,793 --> 00:50:50,589
"We're gonna breach through the walls.
We're gonna continue the mission."
812
00:50:50,672 --> 00:50:54,092
And I said, "God bless you. Let's do it."
813
00:50:56,011 --> 00:50:58,346
The guys moved from the downed helicopter.
814
00:50:59,681 --> 00:51:02,184
The second helicopter comes in
immediately after that.
815
00:51:02,684 --> 00:51:04,811
I didn't know
the first helicopter had an issue.
816
00:51:05,729 --> 00:51:09,316
My team is supposed to drop some guys off,
and then my team's going to the rooftop.
817
00:51:09,399 --> 00:51:11,193
So we drop our guys off,
just like in training.
818
00:51:11,276 --> 00:51:13,070
We lift up, and then go right back down.
819
00:51:14,362 --> 00:51:17,324
The second helicopter,
the pilot didn't know what had happened.
820
00:51:17,407 --> 00:51:20,786
So to be cautious… He didn't know
whether they had taken gunfire.
821
00:51:20,869 --> 00:51:23,914
So he… he lands outside the compound.
822
00:51:23,997 --> 00:51:27,375
And so the pilot is telling us to get out.
823
00:51:28,502 --> 00:51:31,630
Well, now the guys aren't
anywhere where they're supposed to be,
824
00:51:31,713 --> 00:51:32,672
based on plan A.
825
00:51:33,715 --> 00:51:35,050
I'm to be on the roof.
826
00:51:35,133 --> 00:51:38,553
And I remember thinking, "Okay.
I guess we just start the war from here."
827
00:51:38,637 --> 00:51:41,973
The good news is we had plan B,
plan C, and plan D.
828
00:51:46,728 --> 00:51:48,563
They're trying to get in the compound.
829
00:51:48,647 --> 00:51:52,484
On the outside wall,
there was what appeared to be a door.
830
00:51:52,984 --> 00:51:56,780
So as I'm watching,
a demolition charge goes against the door.
831
00:51:56,863 --> 00:51:58,782
I see the explosion…
832
00:52:01,243 --> 00:52:02,619
But they're not moving.
833
00:52:02,702 --> 00:52:06,915
Turns out there is a false door
on this four-foot concrete wall.
834
00:52:07,499 --> 00:52:10,877
He looked back and goes,
"All right, failed breach, this is bad."
835
00:52:11,419 --> 00:52:14,673
And I said, "No, this is good.
That's a fake door."
836
00:52:15,382 --> 00:52:17,634
"Nobody does that. He's in there."
837
00:52:19,344 --> 00:52:21,763
We know that the carport off to our right,
838
00:52:21,847 --> 00:52:24,224
that definitely opens 'cause
we've seen cars come in and out.
839
00:52:24,307 --> 00:52:25,433
We'll just go blow that door.
840
00:52:26,810 --> 00:52:29,396
So I came over the radio.
"Failed breach, northeast corner."
841
00:52:29,479 --> 00:52:31,022
"We're gonna blast the carport."
842
00:52:33,525 --> 00:52:35,986
And somebody said, "No, no, no.
Don't blast it. We'll open it."
843
00:52:36,069 --> 00:52:37,946
And so the door opens,
844
00:52:38,029 --> 00:52:41,658
and a glove came out
with a thumb that I recognize.
845
00:52:42,659 --> 00:52:43,869
We walk in there.
846
00:52:47,205 --> 00:52:48,874
Then, within a few minutes,
847
00:52:48,957 --> 00:52:52,210
everybody is inside the main area
of the compound.
848
00:52:54,087 --> 00:52:56,882
It's dark.
Guys got night vision goggles on.
849
00:52:56,965 --> 00:52:58,967
Clearly, the adrenaline is pumping.
850
00:53:00,260 --> 00:53:04,055
You could see the laser target designators
on their guns. You could see them moving.
851
00:53:05,348 --> 00:53:08,935
You could see the guys
sweeping the compound looking for threats.
852
00:53:12,189 --> 00:53:15,233
And then, you know, I could see
guys enter the three-story building.
853
00:53:15,817 --> 00:53:17,861
And then that's all I could see.
854
00:53:26,786 --> 00:53:29,748
There is so much tension.
855
00:53:29,831 --> 00:53:32,042
God knows
what the hell's gonna happen now.
856
00:53:32,125 --> 00:53:36,630
This is the moment
when everything you've planned,
857
00:53:36,713 --> 00:53:39,382
everything that you've hoped for
858
00:53:39,466 --> 00:53:42,385
in terms of being able to get bin Laden,
859
00:53:42,469 --> 00:53:45,931
is on the line in the next 20 minutes.
860
00:53:47,057 --> 00:53:50,936
It's gonna tell you whether or not
this is a success or a failure.
861
00:53:53,647 --> 00:53:55,899
There was 20 minutes of silence.
862
00:53:57,734 --> 00:53:59,986
Probably the longest 20 minutes
of my life.
863
00:54:09,454 --> 00:54:12,707
During those 20 minutes,
the SEALs on the ground…
864
00:54:18,255 --> 00:54:19,756
…first ran into Abu Ahmed,
865
00:54:19,839 --> 00:54:22,384
and they shot and killed him.
866
00:54:25,303 --> 00:54:28,139
So then we get
in this house on the first floor,
867
00:54:28,223 --> 00:54:32,644
and one of my guys
shot one of the couriers and his wife.
868
00:54:34,521 --> 00:54:36,314
She jumped in front of him.
869
00:54:36,398 --> 00:54:39,526
The women are effectively
turning into human shields.
870
00:54:39,609 --> 00:54:41,903
That's another indicator. He's here.
871
00:54:43,029 --> 00:54:46,032
We're going up the stairs.
We run across locked doors,
872
00:54:46,574 --> 00:54:50,495
called the breacher up,
and the breacher blasted that door.
873
00:54:50,578 --> 00:54:53,206
So I'm about six guys back
on what we call a train,
874
00:54:53,290 --> 00:54:54,958
and we're moving up the stairs.
875
00:54:55,583 --> 00:54:59,462
The guy in front saw bin Laden's
20-year-old son, Khalid bin Laden.
876
00:55:00,547 --> 00:55:02,757
Khalid jumped behind a banister.
877
00:55:02,841 --> 00:55:03,967
The guy in front,
878
00:55:04,050 --> 00:55:06,428
I heard him whisper a few things
to Khalid to confuse him.
879
00:55:09,055 --> 00:55:11,349
He said, "Come here, come here,"
in two different languages,
880
00:55:11,433 --> 00:55:13,727
and it confused Khalid,
and Khalid kind of came out…
881
00:55:15,729 --> 00:55:17,272
And then he shot him and killed him.
882
00:55:19,649 --> 00:55:22,152
So we're on the second floor,
and we wanna go to the third floor.
883
00:55:22,235 --> 00:55:23,611
That's where bin Laden's gonna be.
884
00:55:23,695 --> 00:55:27,324
But we need to clear that second floor
before we start moving.
885
00:55:27,824 --> 00:55:29,576
The guys start to peel off.
886
00:55:29,659 --> 00:55:32,537
So they're all moving out in front of me,
and now I'm the last guy,
887
00:55:32,620 --> 00:55:34,164
which turns me into the number two man.
888
00:55:35,582 --> 00:55:37,584
So the one man's job
is to point up the stairs,
889
00:55:37,667 --> 00:55:39,878
the two man's job
is to tell him when we have enough guys.
890
00:55:42,130 --> 00:55:44,507
I want four guys, and I'm lookin' around.
891
00:55:45,342 --> 00:55:48,094
We had 23 dudes on the ground,
several different houses,
892
00:55:48,178 --> 00:55:49,220
several different stories.
893
00:55:49,304 --> 00:55:51,806
You're gonna run outta guys,
and we just did. We were down to two.
894
00:55:55,226 --> 00:55:57,687
There's a curtain above
the stairs to the third floor,
895
00:55:57,771 --> 00:56:01,524
and there are people moving behind it,
and the number one man can see 'em.
896
00:56:02,025 --> 00:56:06,154
He's like, "They could be suicide bombers,
but we can beat 'em, but we gotta go now."
897
00:56:07,280 --> 00:56:10,325
"Okay. We're gonna go meet a suicide
bomber. I'm tired of thinking about it."
898
00:56:10,408 --> 00:56:12,911
"Let's get it over with." I squeeze
him and we went up the stairs.
899
00:56:17,749 --> 00:56:19,709
So we went up to the top of the stairs.
900
00:56:19,793 --> 00:56:23,129
And the number one man opened
this curtain. People standing there.
901
00:56:24,631 --> 00:56:26,257
He tackled them.
902
00:56:26,341 --> 00:56:27,675
He's gonna take the blast.
903
00:56:27,759 --> 00:56:30,095
So because he went this way,
I turned this way,
904
00:56:30,178 --> 00:56:33,890
and standing in front of me,
two feet away, is Osama bin Laden.
905
00:56:36,851 --> 00:56:39,312
It was one of those moments in life
where it did slow down.
906
00:56:43,316 --> 00:56:45,693
He's taller than I thought.
He's skinnier than I thought.
907
00:56:45,777 --> 00:56:50,198
His beard was gray, white,
but I recognized his nose.
908
00:56:51,241 --> 00:56:52,700
This is definitely him.
909
00:56:53,326 --> 00:56:54,702
He's not surrendering.
910
00:56:55,286 --> 00:56:57,664
He's a threat, not just to me,
but my entire team.
911
00:56:59,290 --> 00:57:00,333
He has to die.
912
00:57:14,722 --> 00:57:17,600
As time went by, it was so tense.
913
00:57:19,352 --> 00:57:22,647
We were waiting and waiting to hear
any type of response.
914
00:57:24,524 --> 00:57:27,360
There was hushed silence,
915
00:57:27,444 --> 00:57:28,778
waiting to hear.
916
00:57:29,404 --> 00:57:33,783
Uh, in some respects, it reminded me
of a waiting room of a hospital
917
00:57:33,867 --> 00:57:36,035
when somebody is going to give birth.
918
00:57:36,536 --> 00:57:39,038
You know, you're anticipating.
You're worried.
919
00:57:42,625 --> 00:57:44,544
It was a long 19 minutes.
920
00:57:45,962 --> 00:57:48,673
And then I get the call
from the ground force commander.
921
00:57:48,756 --> 00:57:51,092
The ground force commander
said over his radio,
922
00:57:51,176 --> 00:57:53,803
"For God and country,
Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo."
923
00:57:53,887 --> 00:57:54,888
"We got him."
924
00:57:58,308 --> 00:57:59,976
We know that means
925
00:58:00,810 --> 00:58:04,272
Osama bin Laden has been killed
by US forces.
926
00:58:05,106 --> 00:58:09,068
It's like, "Holy shit." And, like, I just…
Like, nobody really says anything.
927
00:58:11,362 --> 00:58:13,448
There was no applauding.
928
00:58:14,282 --> 00:58:16,618
It was a very, very silent room.
929
00:58:19,370 --> 00:58:23,208
The silence is broken by Obama,
who didn't move from this chair,
930
00:58:23,708 --> 00:58:26,085
and he just says, "We got him."
931
00:58:29,839 --> 00:58:32,467
When I heard that,
tears welled in my eyes,
932
00:58:32,967 --> 00:58:36,721
and I looked over at my colleague
who was up there with me.
933
00:58:37,430 --> 00:58:38,765
We just looked at each other.
934
00:58:42,060 --> 00:58:44,729
Hearing that inside the space was surreal.
935
00:58:44,812 --> 00:58:49,234
For me, there was some closure there.
Justice delayed, not denied.
936
00:58:49,984 --> 00:58:51,653
Justice delayed, not denied.
937
00:58:53,112 --> 00:58:54,113
We got him.
938
00:58:56,783 --> 00:59:01,037
I thought,
"Oh my God, you know, this is it."
939
00:59:02,413 --> 00:59:05,041
I hoped that my mom knew,
wherever she was.
940
00:59:07,961 --> 00:59:10,922
It was just a… a real sense of relief
941
00:59:11,005 --> 00:59:14,133
after a decade of effort to get bin Laden.
942
00:59:14,217 --> 00:59:17,095
Events that day
are forever etched in my mind.
943
00:59:19,222 --> 00:59:20,723
It was emotional,
944
00:59:21,516 --> 00:59:23,851
but it only lasted for a couple seconds
945
00:59:25,103 --> 00:59:26,980
'cause, in the heat of that moment,
946
00:59:27,063 --> 00:59:31,442
we were still focused on the SEALs
and the helicopters getting back safely.
947
00:59:32,610 --> 00:59:34,737
Obama still looked pretty stressed out,
948
00:59:34,821 --> 00:59:36,030
and he stood up, and he said,
949
00:59:36,614 --> 00:59:39,701
"I want you to tell me the minute
they're out of Pakistani airspace."
950
00:59:41,369 --> 00:59:44,956
The mission wasn't over,
because we still had to get the guys
951
00:59:45,039 --> 00:59:46,666
out of Pakistan and back to Afghanistan.
952
00:59:46,749 --> 00:59:49,127
No one takes a deep breath
until these things are done.
953
00:59:51,087 --> 00:59:53,590
I'm there, I look over,
bin Laden's body's right there.
954
00:59:54,674 --> 00:59:57,510
One of my guys comes up to me,
and he goes, "You good?"
955
00:59:57,594 --> 01:00:00,346
And I said, "What do we do now?"
956
01:00:00,930 --> 01:00:02,765
He said, "We find the computers.
Come on, man."
957
01:00:02,849 --> 01:00:04,851
I said, "You're right.
I'm back. Holy shit."
958
01:00:06,728 --> 01:00:08,855
Call from
the ground force commander. He says,
959
01:00:08,938 --> 01:00:12,358
"Look, we have found a treasure trove
of intelligence on the second floor."
960
01:00:12,942 --> 01:00:16,154
We're in offices with everything
from old-school tower hard drives
961
01:00:16,237 --> 01:00:18,156
to compact disks.
962
01:00:19,032 --> 01:00:22,577
I said, "Okay, get as much as you can.
We need to start gettin' out of here."
963
01:00:23,369 --> 01:00:26,289
By this time, outside the compound,
964
01:00:27,165 --> 01:00:30,126
people were showing up because there
was a disturbance in the neighborhood.
965
01:00:30,793 --> 01:00:33,254
We had an agency colleague
who was the linguist.
966
01:00:33,838 --> 01:00:35,882
He was on the periphery of the compound.
967
01:00:36,382 --> 01:00:38,259
He was trying to keep them at bay.
968
01:00:38,843 --> 01:00:40,553
My buddy, who was
a sniper outside, was like,
969
01:00:40,637 --> 01:00:43,890
"I'm fully prepared to engage these
people, so you better talk 'em out of it."
970
01:00:45,433 --> 01:00:48,811
And I had told the guys,
"Look, I… I don't wanna kill anybody
971
01:00:48,895 --> 01:00:51,481
unless you feel like,
you know, you are threatened."
972
01:00:54,484 --> 01:00:57,737
I was having a lot of anxiety. I said,
"Can we pick this up a little bit?"
973
01:00:57,820 --> 01:00:59,656
Make no mistake about it.
974
01:00:59,739 --> 01:01:01,866
We didn't take our eyes
off the Pakistani radars.
975
01:01:02,533 --> 01:01:04,202
We're finding so much good stuff.
976
01:01:04,285 --> 01:01:08,289
We wanted 32 minutes on the ground, but
now we're pushing 40, we're 45 minutes.
977
01:01:11,876 --> 01:01:14,545
The closer we cut it to the edge,
we might save a lot more lives.
978
01:01:14,629 --> 01:01:15,880
We might save an American city
979
01:01:15,963 --> 01:01:18,800
or London because of stuff we find,
something they're planning.
980
01:01:18,883 --> 01:01:20,635
So we gotta just stick it out to the end.
981
01:01:22,512 --> 01:01:25,890
The amount of time on the ground
was longer than anybody would want.
982
01:01:27,100 --> 01:01:29,644
At the time, a large crowd had formed.
983
01:01:29,727 --> 01:01:31,771
He says, "Nothin' to see here."
984
01:01:31,854 --> 01:01:34,649
"Pakistani exercise. Don't worry about it.
Get back to your homes."
985
01:01:37,568 --> 01:01:40,446
Now we gotta get bin Laden's body
in a body bag. We're bringing him back.
986
01:01:42,740 --> 01:01:45,284
They come out with bin Laden's body
987
01:01:45,368 --> 01:01:47,745
to get in the helicopter
and the backup helicopter,
988
01:01:49,330 --> 01:01:50,331
and they leave.
989
01:01:52,250 --> 01:01:54,168
And they blow up the downed helicopter,
990
01:01:54,252 --> 01:01:56,129
'cause it had
some sensitive material on it.
991
01:01:59,173 --> 01:02:01,884
Watching that unfold
was right out of a movie.
992
01:02:07,598 --> 01:02:10,518
We're leaving. The pilot's
up front, flying as fast as we can.
993
01:02:10,601 --> 01:02:12,019
Pakistanis gotta know we're there.
994
01:02:13,062 --> 01:02:15,940
We see radar turned on.
We start seeing their silos open.
995
01:02:17,525 --> 01:02:19,777
They launched a couple of F-15s,
996
01:02:20,820 --> 01:02:23,239
trying to intercept our helicopters
on the way back.
997
01:02:23,740 --> 01:02:26,951
An F-16 against a 47 is not a good fight.
They could shoot us down.
998
01:02:28,494 --> 01:02:31,164
So I just start my watch,
and I gotta get to 90.
999
01:02:31,247 --> 01:02:34,709
And 90 minutes means we cross the border
from Pakistan to Afghanistan,
1000
01:02:34,792 --> 01:02:36,294
and we can no longer be shot down
1001
01:02:36,377 --> 01:02:39,380
because we've got F-15s on the border
that can protect us.
1002
01:02:41,299 --> 01:02:43,676
All right, cool. Ten minutes.
We gotta get to 20 minutes.
1003
01:02:44,719 --> 01:02:47,722
Helicopters moving
at low speeds across the terrain.
1004
01:02:49,682 --> 01:02:52,101
We're getting call-outs from the ground
1005
01:02:52,185 --> 01:02:54,854
of how far out they were
from returning to base.
1006
01:02:56,939 --> 01:02:58,649
30 minutes. Gotta get to 90.
1007
01:03:00,526 --> 01:03:03,696
All of us inside that center
were kind of pushing the helicopters
1008
01:03:03,780 --> 01:03:05,823
to fly as fast as they could.
1009
01:03:09,202 --> 01:03:11,871
It's been 60 minutes, gotta get to 90.
Now it's 70 minutes.
1010
01:03:13,664 --> 01:03:15,666
I'm trying to keep my mind
off of everything.
1011
01:03:15,750 --> 01:03:19,086
I start thinking about,
in 1980, the Olympics in Lake Placid.
1012
01:03:19,170 --> 01:03:21,130
The excitement and tension building.
1013
01:03:21,214 --> 01:03:23,216
The Olympic Center filling to capacity.
1014
01:03:25,092 --> 01:03:28,137
The greatest hockey team ever assembled
in the Russians.
1015
01:03:28,971 --> 01:03:31,307
They haven't lost a gold medal
since, like, the '50s.
1016
01:03:32,266 --> 01:03:35,311
They're playing these young Americans
who are just out of college,
1017
01:03:35,394 --> 01:03:38,064
no business being on the ice,
but now they're winning.
1018
01:03:38,648 --> 01:03:41,359
Four to three, third period.
You can hear the crowd.
1019
01:03:41,442 --> 01:03:45,571
Ten, nine… We could still screw this up.
They're nervous.
1020
01:03:46,072 --> 01:03:48,115
Eight. Seven.
1021
01:03:49,534 --> 01:03:51,786
Six. Five.
1022
01:03:52,495 --> 01:03:53,496
Four.
1023
01:03:54,163 --> 01:03:55,248
Three.
1024
01:03:56,374 --> 01:03:57,625
Two.
1025
01:04:03,464 --> 01:04:05,925
And then the pilot came over
85 minutes into the flight,
1026
01:04:06,008 --> 01:04:08,261
and he said, "Gentlemen,
for the first time in your lives,
1027
01:04:08,344 --> 01:04:09,762
you're gonna be happy to hear this."
1028
01:04:09,846 --> 01:04:11,305
"Welcome to Afghanistan."
1029
01:04:11,389 --> 01:04:13,850
Do you believe in miracles? Yes!
1030
01:04:13,933 --> 01:04:15,434
Unbelievable!
1031
01:04:17,186 --> 01:04:20,356
When the helicopter makes it
across the Pakistani border,
1032
01:04:20,439 --> 01:04:22,024
the Pakistanis turn around.
1033
01:04:24,694 --> 01:04:27,613
There's a huge sigh of relief
'cause they're safe.
1034
01:04:30,491 --> 01:04:33,202
It's just surreal just to succeed
1035
01:04:33,286 --> 01:04:36,372
because, again,
we'd accepted death on this mission,
1036
01:04:36,455 --> 01:04:37,790
but it's nice to live.
1037
01:04:40,835 --> 01:04:46,424
When those helicopters landed
back at Jalalabad in Afghanistan,
1038
01:04:46,507 --> 01:04:50,219
that was the moment
where all of us around the table said,
1039
01:04:50,303 --> 01:04:51,679
"Mission accomplished."
1040
01:04:52,179 --> 01:04:53,764
"Mission accomplished."
1041
01:04:53,848 --> 01:04:56,601
Everything we had done,
all of the planning,
1042
01:04:57,184 --> 01:04:58,436
all of the work,
1043
01:04:59,103 --> 01:05:00,521
had paid off
1044
01:05:01,314 --> 01:05:03,357
in achieving something I thought…
1045
01:05:03,441 --> 01:05:05,943
we never thought we would be able to do,
1046
01:05:06,027 --> 01:05:08,779
which was to bring bin Laden to justice.
1047
01:05:10,907 --> 01:05:14,201
And we hugged each other
and congratulated each other.
1048
01:05:15,912 --> 01:05:18,039
- Good job, National Security Team.
- Sir.
1049
01:05:18,122 --> 01:05:19,123
- Thank you.
- Yes, sir.
1050
01:05:19,206 --> 01:05:20,791
- Yeah, I'm proud of you.
- Thank you.
1051
01:05:21,292 --> 01:05:23,002
- Your guys did a great job.
- They did.
1052
01:05:23,085 --> 01:05:26,422
When the President of the United States
tells you you've done a good job,
1053
01:05:26,505 --> 01:05:27,924
you never forget that.
1054
01:05:28,007 --> 01:05:29,508
You never forget that moment.
1055
01:05:37,600 --> 01:05:39,226
The day of the raid,
1056
01:05:39,310 --> 01:05:41,687
my daughter was a senior in high school.
1057
01:05:42,605 --> 01:05:44,607
It was her last concert.
1058
01:05:46,275 --> 01:05:48,653
And my wife is saying,
you know, "Where are you?"
1059
01:05:49,862 --> 01:05:50,863
Um…
1060
01:05:52,198 --> 01:05:53,449
And I said, "I can't."
1061
01:05:54,617 --> 01:05:58,037
And she said,
"You can't? You can't take an hour?"
1062
01:05:59,455 --> 01:06:02,291
"What you're doing
is more important than your daughter?"
1063
01:06:04,251 --> 01:06:06,253
And I said, "I gotta go," and I hung up.
1064
01:06:09,465 --> 01:06:12,218
The rest of the day,
she's sitting on the sofa
1065
01:06:12,301 --> 01:06:15,096
trying to figure out,
"How does this divorce thing work?"
1066
01:06:18,933 --> 01:06:21,352
I've been working so many hours,
1067
01:06:22,812 --> 01:06:24,146
seven days a week,
1068
01:06:24,855 --> 01:06:26,148
no days off.
1069
01:06:28,192 --> 01:06:31,153
My marriage was
in deep, deep, deep trouble.
1070
01:06:33,155 --> 01:06:37,284
When the president decides
he is gonna tell the nation,
1071
01:06:38,285 --> 01:06:41,497
I call her, and I say, "Turn on the TV…
1072
01:06:44,709 --> 01:06:46,085
and you'll understand."
1073
01:06:49,005 --> 01:06:50,506
And she said, "You got him."
1074
01:06:51,674 --> 01:06:53,676
Breaking news, President Barack Obama
1075
01:06:53,759 --> 01:06:55,928
is expected to make
a surprise announcement.
1076
01:06:56,012 --> 01:06:57,430
We do not know what it's about,
1077
01:06:57,513 --> 01:07:00,057
but we do expect it to be
a huge announcement
1078
01:07:00,141 --> 01:07:02,476
because this is very unusual.
1079
01:07:02,560 --> 01:07:05,688
I'm home, and I'm in bed with my daughter,
1080
01:07:05,771 --> 01:07:07,773
and I'm reading her bedtime stories.
1081
01:07:07,857 --> 01:07:11,944
Emily comes in, my wife, and she says,
"All the phones are ringing."
1082
01:07:12,028 --> 01:07:13,821
I'm like, "I'm reading this story."
1083
01:07:13,904 --> 01:07:16,699
She's like, "No, all the phones
are ringing." That's never good.
1084
01:07:16,782 --> 01:07:18,534
{\an8}Uh, the White House called,
1085
01:07:18,617 --> 01:07:20,286
{\an8}uh, informing each news…
1086
01:07:20,369 --> 01:07:22,413
{\an8}uh, news organization individually tonight
1087
01:07:22,496 --> 01:07:24,415
{\an8}that there would be a statement sometime…
1088
01:07:24,498 --> 01:07:26,333
{\an8}Obama's like, "Well, I need a speech."
1089
01:07:26,417 --> 01:07:27,835
And I hadn't written it.
1090
01:07:27,918 --> 01:07:30,463
And so I was like, "Oh shit."
1091
01:07:31,547 --> 01:07:34,216
I turn around, and I'm like,
"I need five minutes!"
1092
01:07:34,300 --> 01:07:37,470
And I'm like, "Oh shit. You don't talk
to the president like that."
1093
01:07:37,553 --> 01:07:41,182
You certainly don't talk to him like that
in front of, like, his whole cabinet,
1094
01:07:41,265 --> 01:07:43,934
But I was like…
And he's like, "I got you."
1095
01:07:44,018 --> 01:07:46,979
So we came up and talked a bit about,
"What do you want in the speech?"
1096
01:07:48,022 --> 01:07:50,149
I've written
thousands of speeches in my life.
1097
01:07:50,232 --> 01:07:54,612
Nothing remotely approached
the feeling of writing that.
1098
01:07:54,695 --> 01:07:56,822
I think, when I wrote that first sentence,
1099
01:07:57,531 --> 01:08:00,409
the enormity of what I had
the opportunity to do kind of hit me.
1100
01:08:00,493 --> 01:08:03,037
Like, "I'm telling the world about this."
1101
01:08:03,120 --> 01:08:06,749
It was frantic, but I was used to frantic
finalizing speeches with Obama.
1102
01:08:06,832 --> 01:08:08,501
He likes to edit to the end.
1103
01:08:08,584 --> 01:08:10,795
Literally, I've got
his written edits on a draft,
1104
01:08:10,878 --> 01:08:13,756
and I had to sprint
to the teleprompter operator
1105
01:08:13,839 --> 01:08:16,008
to beat Obama walking behind me, you know?
1106
01:08:18,302 --> 01:08:19,762
But then what was eerie is
1107
01:08:19,845 --> 01:08:23,349
you know, there's a very small group
of press that's assembled for this.
1108
01:08:23,432 --> 01:08:26,477
And then, there's a handful of us,
but it's this huge, empty room.
1109
01:08:26,560 --> 01:08:27,645
And so what you see on TV
1110
01:08:27,728 --> 01:08:30,856
is just Obama walking down
the long, red hallway to the podium.
1111
01:08:33,442 --> 01:08:36,403
And what he's speaking to
is just some cameras, you know?
1112
01:08:36,487 --> 01:08:38,197
Like, there's not an audience.
1113
01:08:38,781 --> 01:08:41,242
And we're just kind of sitting there
at the back of the room.
1114
01:08:42,284 --> 01:08:43,327
Good evening.
1115
01:08:44,078 --> 01:08:47,998
Tonight, I can report
to the American people and to the world
1116
01:08:48,499 --> 01:08:50,709
that the United States
has conducted an operation
1117
01:08:50,793 --> 01:08:54,463
that killed Osama bin Laden,
the leader of al-Qaida.
1118
01:08:54,547 --> 01:08:57,800
I hear President Obama say
"Osama bin Laden."
1119
01:08:58,300 --> 01:09:00,845
I looked at Osama bin Laden,
and I thought,
1120
01:09:01,846 --> 01:09:04,473
"How in the fuck did I get here
from Butte, Montana?"
1121
01:09:04,557 --> 01:09:06,642
And then we kind of get back,
and he's talking,
1122
01:09:06,725 --> 01:09:10,104
and guys around me are like,
"Say it. Say that no one was hurt."
1123
01:09:10,688 --> 01:09:12,982
A small team of Americans
carried out the operation
1124
01:09:13,065 --> 01:09:15,734
with extraordinary courage and capability.
1125
01:09:16,527 --> 01:09:18,279
No Americans were harmed.
1126
01:09:19,155 --> 01:09:21,740
I looked at Brennan
as Obama's talking, and I was like,
1127
01:09:23,367 --> 01:09:25,703
"How long have you been
trying to get bin Laden?"
1128
01:09:26,203 --> 01:09:30,040
And, like, without missing a beat,
he's like, "15 years." You know?
1129
01:09:30,124 --> 01:09:32,293
Like, he knew it exactly in his head.
1130
01:09:32,376 --> 01:09:34,545
You know, Sudan to Afghanistan.
1131
01:09:35,254 --> 01:09:38,132
And… and that was
the kind of feeling of like,
1132
01:09:38,215 --> 01:09:42,720
"Oh my God, like, there's so many people
that have tried to get this guy."
1133
01:09:43,679 --> 01:09:45,306
It was nearly ten years ago
1134
01:09:45,806 --> 01:09:47,683
that a bright September day was darkened
1135
01:09:47,766 --> 01:09:51,228
by the worst attack
on the American people in our history.
1136
01:09:54,773 --> 01:09:56,442
And on nights like this one,
1137
01:09:56,525 --> 01:09:59,153
we can say to those families
who have lost loved ones
1138
01:09:59,236 --> 01:10:00,571
to al-Qaida's terror,
1139
01:10:01,280 --> 01:10:03,073
justice has been done.
1140
01:10:06,744 --> 01:10:09,121
Tonight, we give thanks
to the countless intelligence
1141
01:10:09,205 --> 01:10:11,999
and counterterrorism professionals
who've worked tirelessly
1142
01:10:12,082 --> 01:10:13,375
to achieve this outcome.
1143
01:10:15,753 --> 01:10:19,840
The American people do not see their work,
nor know their names,
1144
01:10:20,758 --> 01:10:23,886
but tonight,
they feel the satisfaction of their work…
1145
01:10:26,055 --> 01:10:28,557
and the result
of their pursuit of justice.
1146
01:10:32,561 --> 01:10:33,604
Thank you.
1147
01:10:34,730 --> 01:10:37,358
And may God bless
the United States of America.
1148
01:10:41,820 --> 01:10:44,615
After he gave his speech,
1149
01:10:44,698 --> 01:10:46,492
I went back down to my office,
1150
01:10:46,992 --> 01:10:50,162
and as I started to make my way
out of the West Wing,
1151
01:10:50,246 --> 01:10:54,250
I could see that outside
it was lighter than usual
1152
01:10:54,333 --> 01:10:55,459
for that time of night.
1153
01:10:57,127 --> 01:11:02,299
And I could see throngs of people
converging on Lafayette Park,
1154
01:11:02,925 --> 01:11:05,135
and they were chanting, "USA, USA."
1155
01:11:14,895 --> 01:11:18,899
People were sharing in the joy
of what had happened,
1156
01:11:18,983 --> 01:11:22,403
and I realized at that point,
1157
01:11:22,486 --> 01:11:25,781
we'd not only brought justice
to bin Laden,
1158
01:11:26,865 --> 01:11:29,994
but in many ways,
we had really brought justice
1159
01:11:30,077 --> 01:11:33,872
to all of those victims
whose families had died
1160
01:11:34,456 --> 01:11:36,625
in the Trade Towers and elsewhere.
1161
01:11:42,381 --> 01:11:45,009
I go downstairs,
and I grab a beer from the fridge,
1162
01:11:45,092 --> 01:11:47,886
and then I thought,
"This is probably more than a beer thing,"
1163
01:11:47,970 --> 01:11:51,473
so I grabbed a bottle of whiskey
from the cabinet.
1164
01:11:51,974 --> 01:11:53,350
And I started to head to the porch,
1165
01:11:53,434 --> 01:11:56,478
and I stopped and grabbed a cigar
from the box in the den
1166
01:11:57,021 --> 01:11:59,481
'cause I thought,
"Well, this is gonna be a good night."
1167
01:11:59,565 --> 01:12:02,276
Thank you, USA!
1168
01:12:04,361 --> 01:12:06,655
And now I'm ready, and I'm thinking,
1169
01:12:07,740 --> 01:12:11,493
"Here you are about to celebrate,
you know, the…
1170
01:12:12,494 --> 01:12:14,747
the death of another person
in a violent way,
1171
01:12:14,830 --> 01:12:16,999
and aren't we more civilized than that?"
1172
01:12:17,082 --> 01:12:20,419
And I thought for just one more second,
I said, "You know what? Fuck him."
1173
01:12:21,253 --> 01:12:23,255
"He died the way he was supposed to die."
1174
01:12:30,095 --> 01:12:32,890
The president was concerned
1175
01:12:33,474 --> 01:12:36,685
about what we would do
with bin Laden's body.
1176
01:12:48,781 --> 01:12:52,701
The decision was
that we would transfer the body
1177
01:12:52,785 --> 01:12:55,579
to an aircraft carrier
in the Indian Ocean,
1178
01:12:56,705 --> 01:12:59,458
and he would receive
the last Muslim rites,
1179
01:13:00,042 --> 01:13:02,711
uh, but that he would be buried at sea
1180
01:13:04,129 --> 01:13:08,759
so that it would not be located someplace
that could become a shrine.
1181
01:13:12,137 --> 01:13:14,932
The thing that I'll never forget is
the military put together
1182
01:13:15,015 --> 01:13:18,310
this photo album
of the journey of bin Laden's body.
1183
01:13:18,394 --> 01:13:21,522
It started with him… just shot, you know,
1184
01:13:21,605 --> 01:13:23,816
and then back in Jalalabad,
1185
01:13:23,899 --> 01:13:26,110
then face cleaned up.
1186
01:13:26,193 --> 01:13:28,320
What I remember
so powerfully about it is not, like,
1187
01:13:28,404 --> 01:13:30,781
the picture of bin Laden's face shot off,
1188
01:13:32,199 --> 01:13:34,701
it was the naval vessel.
1189
01:13:35,536 --> 01:13:38,038
There's his body wrapped in a shroud
1190
01:13:38,831 --> 01:13:41,208
being lowered into the water,
1191
01:13:42,000 --> 01:13:44,336
just slipping under the water.
1192
01:13:47,047 --> 01:13:49,383
I remember being very affected by that.
1193
01:13:51,176 --> 01:13:53,512
After all these world events,
1194
01:13:53,595 --> 01:13:56,140
this human being
1195
01:13:56,223 --> 01:14:00,018
is just somewhere in the Indian Ocean
1196
01:14:00,102 --> 01:14:01,645
wrapped in a white shroud.
1197
01:14:09,528 --> 01:14:14,032
The United States
definitely won the battle after 9/11.
1198
01:14:14,116 --> 01:14:16,493
No more attacks on the homeland at scale.
1199
01:14:16,577 --> 01:14:19,037
Capture, killing
1200
01:14:19,121 --> 01:14:22,958
of the entire al-Qaida senior leadership
that was responsible for 9/11.
1201
01:14:23,750 --> 01:14:26,253
But I fear bin Laden may have won the war.
1202
01:14:27,337 --> 01:14:29,923
I think bin Laden weakened America.
1203
01:14:31,091 --> 01:14:35,095
The trillions of dollars we spent
on counterterrorism,
1204
01:14:35,179 --> 01:14:37,097
the lengthy war in Afghanistan,
1205
01:14:37,181 --> 01:14:39,475
the war in Iraq divided Americans.
1206
01:14:39,558 --> 01:14:41,101
It's still playing out today.
1207
01:14:46,315 --> 01:14:49,943
I was beyond impressed with everyone
1208
01:14:50,027 --> 01:14:52,738
who was involved
in getting us to that point.
1209
01:14:54,907 --> 01:14:56,074
But…
1210
01:14:58,327 --> 01:14:59,495
Uh, I don't know.
1211
01:15:00,579 --> 01:15:01,663
I want
1212
01:15:02,748 --> 01:15:05,167
someone who deserves
1213
01:15:06,543 --> 01:15:07,711
to suffer
1214
01:15:08,754 --> 01:15:12,716
to suffer in the way
that they fear the most.
1215
01:15:13,634 --> 01:15:17,429
I wanted him to die an old man,
1216
01:15:17,930 --> 01:15:19,431
completely forgotten,
1217
01:15:19,515 --> 01:15:22,017
to live to know
that no one cared about him
1218
01:15:22,100 --> 01:15:24,978
or thought about him or knew who he was.
1219
01:15:25,062 --> 01:15:30,192
That, to me, was the worst thing
you could do to him, to any terrorist.
1220
01:15:32,861 --> 01:15:35,948
I just think people don't understand
1221
01:15:37,074 --> 01:15:43,330
the power we have to destroy terrorism
by not being influenced by it,
1222
01:15:44,122 --> 01:15:48,043
by not being afraid of it,
by not making decisions because of it.
1223
01:15:50,671 --> 01:15:54,675
That is the greatest way
you can neutralize it and destroy it.
1224
01:15:56,593 --> 01:15:59,846
Just to say, "F you," you know?
1225
01:15:59,930 --> 01:16:02,724
"You are not changing who we are
or what we do."
1226
01:16:06,812 --> 01:16:11,858
You see the turmoil of the world
stirring that pot again,
1227
01:16:12,359 --> 01:16:15,862
where it will, um, cause tragedy,
1228
01:16:16,863 --> 01:16:19,241
anger, excite emotions,
1229
01:16:20,158 --> 01:16:22,494
and someone else will come along
1230
01:16:23,662 --> 01:16:24,871
and exploit that.
1231
01:16:27,165 --> 01:16:28,750
It's not the end of the story,
1232
01:16:30,460 --> 01:16:32,254
but it's the end of this chapter,
1233
01:16:33,338 --> 01:16:34,923
the bin Laden chapter.