Counterstrike: The Untold Story of America's Secret Campaign Against Al Qaeda (42 page)

“While not all extremist groups share the same goals or ideology”: Admiral Michael Mullen, Hoover Institution conference, Stanford University, November 12, 2010.

“Everybody believes we’re going to get hit again”: Author interview with Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Arlington, Va., January 5, 2011.

11. COUNTERSTRIKE IN ABBOTTABAD

In fact, in the mission’s opening minutes: Author interview with senior administration official, Washington, D.C., May 7, 2011.

“This mission simply would not have been possible before”: A broad description of the Gates assessment in the Situation Room was provided by a senior administration official in an author interview on May 2, 2011, and was confirmed in greater detail in an e-mail message from Gates transmitted through Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, on May 6, 2011.

American intelligence officials had increasing confidence: The reconstruction of events leading up to and on the day of the Abbottabad raid is from Mark Mazzetti, Helene Cooper, and Peter Baker, “Behind the Hunt for Bin Laden,”
New York Times
, May 3, 2011.

“One of the things we have seen since 9/11 is an extraordinary coming together”: Robert M. Gates, press briefing, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., May 6, 2011.

“It was looked at from the standpoint”: John Brennan, press briefing, Washington, D.C., May 2, 2011.

Intelligence officials were reluctant to get a closer look: Bob Woodward, “Trail to bin Laden Began with One Call,”
Washington Post
, May 7, 2011.

The agency had carried about 240 drone attacks in Pakistan:
Long War Journal
, May 2011,
www.longwarjournal.org
.

White House officials worried that any strategic blow to Al Qaeda: Author interview with senior administration official, Washington, D.C., May 7, 2011.

“It was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis”: Leon Panetta, quoted in “They Might Alert the Targets,”
Time
,
www.time.com
, May 3, 2011.

He summoned aides to the White House Diplomatic Room: Tom Donilon, speaking on CNN’s
State of the Union
, May 8, 2011.

“The president was trying to balance competing objectives”: Author telephone interview with Nick Rasmussen, Washington, D.C., May 7, 2011.

“There were people inside the intelligence community”: Author interview with senior administration official, Washington, D.C., May 7, 2011.

“absolutely the single guy I would choose for this mission”: Author interview with senior administration official, Washington, D.C., May 7, 2011.

“They’ve reached the target”: The account of the strike is drawn from a detailed reconstruction by the staff of the
New York Times
in “How the Raid Unfolded,”
New York Times
, May 8, 2011.

“We got him”: Mazzetti, Cooper, and Baker, “Behind the Hunt for Bin Laden.”

“This collection represents the most significant amount of intelligence”: Senior intelligence official, news briefing, the Pentagon, Arlington, Va., May 7, 2011.

“This was the ultimate raid of its kind”: Author interview with Michael Vickers, Arlington, Va., May 4, 2011.

“We essentially prepared a messaging strategy for every possible circumstance”: Author telephone interview with Ben Rhodes, Washington, D.C., May 7, 2011.

“Here is bin Laden, who has been calling for these attacks”: John Brennan, press briefing, Washington, D.C., May 2, 2011.

“It also demonstrates no terrorist is safe”: Author telephone interview with Ben Rhodes, Washington, D.C., May 7, 2011.

“It’s inconceivable that bin Laden did not have a support system in the country”: John Brennan, press briefing, Washington, D.C., May 2, 2011.

“Simply wishing away Al Qaeda isn’t going to happen”: Author telephone interview with Nick Rasmussen, Washington, D.C., May 7, 2011.

“What bound the organization together”: Author telephone interview with Michael Leiter, Washington, D.C., May 5, 2011.

“This is not the time to take our foot off the gas”: Author telephone interview with Ben Rhodes, Washington, D.C., May 7, 2011.

“Bin Laden’s death is a tremendous strategic blow to Al Qaeda”: Author interview with Michael Vickers, Arlington, Va., May 4, 2011.

EPILOGUE: “TELL ME HOW THIS ENDS”

“There is a fundamental tension in seeking a counterterrorism ‘grand strategy’”: Author interview with Michael Vickers, Arlington, Va., August 26, 2010.

“In the months before Fort Hood”: Michael Leiter, comments on panel hosted by Bipartisan Policy Council, Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C., October 6, 2010.

“bring fresh eyes to the problems we face”: Author telephone interview with Michael Leiter, June 9, 2011.

“Though terrorists are difficult to deter directly”: Department of Defense, National Military Strategy, 2011.

“They have been able to innovate faster than we have”: Author interview with Major General Jeffrey Schloesser, USA (Ret.), Arlington, Va., Spring 2011.

“Though we are safer now than after 9/11”: Author e-mail interview with Juan Zarate, March 5, 2011.

“There is not going to be a V-J Day”: Author interview with John Tyson, Arlington, Va., 2010.

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_________.
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_________.
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_________.
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_________.
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_________.
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