By Cheryl Pellerin, AFPS, ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT, April 27, 2012 -Returning from a weeklong trip to South America to strengthen military ties in Colombia, Brazil and Chile, Panetta, who was director of the CIA on May 2, 2011, when the al-Qaida chieftain met his end, recalled the "high-risk mission" the Defense Department called Operation Neptune Spear.
"I don't think there's any question that America is safer as a result of the bin Laden operation," Panetta told reporters traveling with him.
"When you combine that with the other operations that have ... gone after al-Qaida leadership," he added, "I think it has weakened al-Qaida as an organization and certainly it has prevented them from having the command-and-control capability to be able to put together an attack similar to 9/11.
But al-Qaida remains a threat, the secretary said.
President Barack Obama's decision to give the bin Laden operation the green light was "gutsy", the secretary said, since there wasn't absolute confirmation that bin Laden was inside the Abbottabad compound.
Officials had based the operation "on a lot of circumstantial evidence," the secretary said, yet it was the best lead on bin Laden's whereabouts since 2001.
However, the validity of the evidence, he said, was "still a big question mark."
Panetta said the operation provided "several fingernail-biting moments" for U.S. officials and military leaders who from Afghanistan, the CIA operations center and the White House were monitoring the raid as it happened.
One of those anxious moments occurred, the secretary said, when the military aircraft used in the operation -- two lead helicopters plus backups -- entered Pakistani airspace.
"When they crossed the border and were going into Pakistan there were a lot of tense moments about whether or not they would be detected," Panetta said.
Another nail-biting moment occurred as the helicopters entered the Abbottabad compound and one of them lost lift and had to be left behind and destroyed, Panetta said.
"What had happened was that we had picked up from weather reports what the heat conditions were going to be on the ground," the secretary said, "but it turned out to be hotter than we expected."
The heat, intensified by the compound's thick, high walls, caused the helicopter to lose lift and end up on the ground.
Panetta was at that time on the line with Navy Adm. William H. McRaven, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command. McRaven was monitoring communications from Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
After the loss of the helicopter, Panetta recalled asking McRaven, "Okay, what's next?" The admiral, the secretary said, replied, "Don't worry, we're ready for this."
There was additional tension during a 20-minute period of silence that began after the SEALs entered the building where everyone hoped they would find bin Laden, the secretary said. Then they heard weapons fire.
"We knew gunshots had been fired but after that I just didn't know," Panetta said. It was at that point that McRaven reported that he might have heard the code word -- Geronimo -- that would mean they had found bin Laden.
"We still were waiting, and then within a few minutes McRaven said the words, 'Geronimo KIA,'" the secretary said, which meant that bin Laden had been killed in action.
"And that was that," Panetta said.
It was also tense when the team got back into the helicopters and began to leave the compound, he said.
"By that time they had blown [up] the helicopter that was down and you knew that we had woken up all of Pakistan to the fact that something had happened," Panetta said.
The concern revolved around what the Pakistanis were thinking and how they would respond, and whether the team could get out without problems, he said.
"The moment they crossed the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, we finally knew that the mission had been accomplished," Panetta said.
Yet, he said, there were no cheers or high-fives at the CIA's operations center.
"We had some special forces people at the operations center at CIA and we all kind of looked at each other," Panetta said. "As a matter of fact, I have a picture in my office of all of us putting our arms around each other, just [acknowledging that] we got the job done."
Today, nearly a year after bin Laden's demise, the United States and its allies continue to hunt down al-Qaida and other terrorists -- wherever they may be.
"The more successful we are at taking down those who represent their spiritual and ideological leadership, the greater our ability to weaken their threat to this country and to other countries," Panetta said. AFPS.
VoA:
However, other U.S. intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity said Friday, while al-Qaida's core network is probably not capable of carrying out another mass-casualty attack on the scale of September 11, 2001, the terrorist group's affiliates remain a threat.
The officials singled out al-Qaida's Yemeni offshoot as especially dangerous, saying it is gaining territory and followers, despite targeting by Yemeni and U.S. counter-terrorist forces.
The anonymous officials also cited the threat of terrorism from so-called “lone wolves” who are inspired by al-Qaida and are intent on committing violence. They said attacks like the shooting spree last month in France by an Islamic militant are difficult to counter.
The Washington Post reported Friday Pakistan's intelligence service believes it deserves credit for helping the U.S. locate bin Laden's hideout. The newspaper reported the unnamed officials say Pakistan intelligence gave the U.S. information, resulting in the U.S. finding bin Laden's residence. Washington has disputed their claims.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama has taken the extraordinary step of giving a television interview in the White House Situation Room about how he made the decision to send the special forces to Pakistan to kill bin Laden. The Situation Room is where the president and other top U.S. officials watched live video of the raid as it took place. The interview is scheduled to air on NBC May 2, the anniversary of the raid. NBC News President Steve Capus said the interview will be the “definitive account” of the operation.
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