The National Security Agency (NSA) has shed new light on its input in the decade-long search for Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, CBS News reports.
In a new podcast series titled “No Such Podcast,” current and former senior NSA officials have revealed previously undisclosed details about the highly secretive operation that culminated in the 2011 raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Jon Darby, former NSA director of operations, described the early days of the search, recounting how “late night meetings in the fall of 2001” were dedicated to devising strategies to locate bin Laden. One of the key theories involved tracking down a courier who was believed to be responsible for his care.
Darby highlighted the “ultra-compartmented” nature of the operation, with only a select group of 50 NSA employees privy to the mission’s details until after the Abbottabad raid. The NSA’s crucial role on the day of the raid, according to Darby, was to ensure the safety of the two Black Hawk helicopters that had secretly entered Pakistani airspace.
“So the government had decided to carry out this special forces raid. So what’s NSA’s role at that point? Our job is to make sure there are no threats to those choppers that are flying in and on the way out,” Darby explained, referencing the potential risk of interception. “So we had people poised, you know, ready to provide any indications and warning of threats to those helicopters.”
