Media Articles

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In the weeks following the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, by United States forces, U.S. Intelligence Community analysts sifted through the recovered digital and hard copy materials in search of clues that would reveal ongoing al-Qa`ida plots, identities and locations of al-Qa`ida personnel, and other information of immediate importance.

On May 20, 2015, the ODNI released a sizeable tranche of documents recovered from the compound used to hide Osama bin Laden. On March 1, 2016, the ODNI released a second tranche of material gleaned from the Abbottabad raid. On January 19, 2017, the ODNI released the final tranche of documents. These releases, which followed a rigorous interagency review, align with the President’s call for increased transparency–consistent with national security prerogatives–and the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act, which required the ODNI to conduct a review of the documents for release.

Editor's note: After the raid on Abbottabad, an interagency task force worked 24/7 to identify which of the recovered materials presented intelligence value. Once the task force pinpointed which materials were most useful to the Intelligence Community, they produced intelligence cables that were shared throughout the IC. The underpinning materials—hundreds of documents—that informed those cables were then reviewed for declassification and public release. All interagency declassification reviews of the Abbottabad materials were scoped specifically to this distilled set of materials—those with intelligence value—as opposed to the entire trove recovered at Abbottabad. Career intelligence professionals executed this interagency effort, with CIA as Executive Agent. On November 1, 2017, CIA released nearly 470,000 files that included draft versions of items previously reviewed as well as other correspondence and materials outside the scope of previous declassification reviews.

Declassified Material - November 01, 2017

Declassified Material - January 19, 2017 (49 items)

Declassified Material - March 1, 2016 (113 items)

Declassified Material - May 20, 2015 (103 items)

Publicly Available U.S. Government Documents (75 items)

English Language Books (39 items)

Material Published by Violent Extremists & Terror Groups (35 items)

Materials Regarding France (19 items)

Media Articles (33 items)

Business Week (19 Feb 2007 issue)
Doctrine: Journal of General Military Review, Issue 3
Foreign Policy in Focus, “Prospects for al-Qaeda” (24 Jan 2003)
Foreign Policy (Jan-Feb 2008)
Foreign Policy (March-Apr 2008)
Foreign Policy (May-June 2008)
Foreign Policy (Nov-Dec 2008)
Foreign Policy (Sept-Oct 2008)
Heft, “The Taliban, al-Qaeda, and the Determination of Illegal Combatants,” Issue 4 (2002)
“The Impact of the War in Iraq on Islamist Groups and the Culture of Global Jihad,” by Reuven Paz, Project for the Research of Islamist Movements (2004)
International News, “Governments’ Successful Measures against Terrorism” (21 Aug 2009)
Journal of International Security Affairs, “Future Terrorism, Mutant Jihads” by Walid Phares
Los Angeles Times, “Is al-Qaeda Just Bush’s Boogeyman? (11 Jan 2005)
Middle East Policy, “Terrorist Recruitment and Radicalization in Saudi Arabia” (Winter 2006)
Military Review, “Changing the Army for Counterinsurgency Operations” (Nov-Dec 2005)
Newsweek, part of an article on an attack within Israel
Newsweek, part of an article on President Bush’s business practices prior to his terms as President
Newsweek, part of an article on hawks and doves on Iraq within the Bush Administration
Newsweek, quotes column (unknown issue, but apparently from the years of the Bush Administration)
Osprey corporate advertisement featuring U.S. military troops rappelling from a helicopter
Parameters, “Al-Qaeda and the Internet: The Dangers of ‘Cyberplanning’,” Timothy L. Thomas (Spring 2003)
Parameters, “The Origins of al-Qaeda’s Ideology and Implications for U.S. Strategy,” by Christopher Henzel (Spring 2005)
Popular Science, “Best Innovations of the Year Issue” (Dec 2010)
“Pushing the Prize Up , A Few Notes on Al-Qaeda’s Reward Structure and the Choice of Casualties,” by Raul Caruso and Andrea Locatelli
“Studi Politico-Strategici: An Introduction to Unconventional Warfare,” by Joseph Gagliano
Time, part of an article on a dive of America Online’s stock
Tulsa World article on criminal charges against David Coleman Headley
U.S. News and World Report (fragment, issue unknown)
Washington Quarterly, “Counterterrorism after al-Qaeda” by Paul Pillar (Summer 2004)
Washington Quarterly, “The Post-Madrid Face of al-Qaeda,” by Rohan Gunaratna (Summer 2004)
Washingtonian Magazine profile of John Esposito (Jan 2005)

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Other Religious Documents (11 items)

Think Tank & Other Studies (40 items)

Software & Technical Manuals (30 items)

Other Miscellaneous Documents (14 items)

Documents Probably Used by Other Compound Residents (10 items)

An interagency Intelligence Community taskforce, under the auspices of the White House and with the agreement of the DNI, reviewed all documents from Abbottabad. As of January 19, 2017, all documents whose publication would not jeopardize ongoing operations against al-Qa‘ida or their affiliates have been released.

This list contains U.S. person information that is being released in accordance with the Fiscal Year 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act (section 309) requirement that the Director of National Intelligence conduct a declassification review of certain items collected during the mission that killed Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011, and make publicly available any information declassified as a result of such review.

All publications are unclassified and available commercially or in the public domain. The U.S. Intelligence Community does not endorse any of the publications appearing on this list.

Bin Laden's Bookshelf