In a letter dated August 9, 2011, the Honorable Peter King, Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, U.S. House of Representatives, cited concerns involving “ongoing leaks of classified information regarding sensitive military operations.” Chairman King referenced an August 6, 2011, New York Times op-ed column that claims, “Administration officials may have provided filmmakers with details of the raid that successfully killed Usama Bin Laden (UBL).” According to this article, filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal received “top-level access to the most classified mission in history.” Chairman King requested that Department of Defense (DoD) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Inspectors General explore related matters and respond to the following questions:

• “What consultations, if any, occurred between members of the Executive Office of the President, and Department of Defense and/or CIA officials, regarding the advisability of providing Hollywood executives with access to covert military operators and clandestine CIA officers to discuss the UBL raid?”
• “Will a copy of this film be submitted to the military and CIA for prepublication review, to determine if special operations tactics, techniques and procedures, or Agency intelligence sources and methods, would be revealed by its release?”
• “How was the attendance of filmmakers at a meeting with special operators and Agency officers at CIA Headquarters balanced against those officers’ duties to maintain their covers? How will cover concerns be addressed going forward?”
• “What steps did the Administration take to ensure that no special operations tactics, techniques, and procedures were compromised during those meetings?”

This report responds to specific questions posed by Chairman King. In conducting this project, we focused exclusively on DoD equities and interests. Additionally, we reviewed applicable laws, regulations, DoD Directives and Instructions; reviewed and analyzed numerous documents and emails obtained from DoD components; and interviewed numerous personnel from DoD components.

The Investigation

 Congressionally Requested Action on Released Department of Defense Information to the Media, June 14, 2013 [19 Pages, 1.5MB]

https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/ig/DODIG-2013-092.pdf

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Osama bin Laden, the founder and head of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, shortly after 1:00 am PKT (20:00 UTC, May 1) by Navy SEALs of the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group (also known as DEVGRU or SEAL Team Six). The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was carried out in a Central Intelligence Agency-led operation.

In addition to DEVGRU, participating units included the U.S. Army Special Operations Command’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) and CIA operatives.  The raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, was launched from Afghanistan. After the raid, U.S. forces took bin Laden’s body to Afghanistan for identification, then buried it at sea within 24 hours of his death.

Al-Qaeda confirmed the death on May 6 with posts made on militant websites, vowing to avenge the killing. Other Pakistani militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, also vowed retaliation against the U.S. and against Pakistan for not preventing the operation.

Bin Laden’s killing was generally favorably received by U.S. public opinion; was welcomed by the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, and a large number of governments; but was condemned by some, including Fidel Castro of Cuba and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas administration of the Gaza Strip. Legal and ethical aspects of the killing, such as his not being taken alive despite being unarmed, were questioned by others, including Amnesty International. Also controversial was the decision to not release any photographic or DNA evidence of bin Laden’s death to the public.

The Abbottabad Commission Report of the Pakistani Abbottabad commission was released by Al Jazeera on July 8, 2013.  

The following documents have been obtained under the FOIA, regarding the death of Bin Laden and the aftermath.

Declassified Documents

  Department of State Records [38 Pages, 3.31MB]

  Department of Defense Records, FOIA Case File 14-F-0643 [ Added 04/30/2014 ] [17 Pages, 0.9MB] – The DOD is the central office for responding to all enquiries regarding information on Bin Laden’s death.  I requested from the NSA: “all records pertaining to the talking points for the media and the public, how the government would announce his death, etc.”  My request was forwarded to the DOD for a response.  I requested the FOIA Case File to see how the agency communicated about the request, and this was the result.

  Letters from Abbottabad: Bin Ladin Sidelined?, 03 May 2012 [64 Pages, 1.1MB] – The death of Usama bin Ladin one year ago understandably generated a significant amount of interest in the professionals who carried out the raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on the night of May 2nd. Lost in the focus on this single mission is the fact that United States Special Operations Forces (SOF) have conducted thousands of comparable missions in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001. The success of “Neptune Spear” was the cumulative result of the experience, relentless focus and professionalism of a community that has been conducting these types of missions for over ten years.

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