The Bin Laden Plot

McFarland replied, “That information is likely hidden under another code name operation, to prevent what we’re trying to do — locate that information. It’s undoubtedly in the JSOC files somewhere, but without knowing the name of the operation or the individual, there’s no way to quickly identify which one of the over one hundred million files in the JSOC directory contains that information. We’d have to search every file.

“We could automate the process with programmed spiders, but searching every file would likely be detected by a cyber watchdog. Plus, it’s possible the information is kept offline in segregated storage or only in paper files if deemed sensitive enough.”

“How do you recommend we proceed?” Christine asked.

“I think we should hold off on this discussion until after the next few slides,” McFarland replied. She waited for concurrence, and Christine nodded her agreement.

McFarland’s presentation moved to the next slide. It was a single-page dossier of a Navy SEAL: a picture of the man’s face in the top-right corner, with the rest of the slide filled with personal information, training, and assignment details. On the bottom of the slide, large red letters were printed.

DECEASED

“We were hoping to discover the identity of the third-floor prisoner by interviewing the SEALs on the third floor. However, we ran into an unexpected issue.”

McFarland flipped through the next few slides, each one containing a dossier of a SEAL assigned to the third floor of bin Laden’s house in Abbottabad. On the bottom of each slide, in bold red letters, was DECEASED.

“It turns out that every member of the third-floor SEAL team is dead.” She went through the details of each death: mission in Afghanistan, helicopter crash during a training exercise, car accident, et cetera.

“We were surprised that every SEAL assigned to the third floor is deceased but were stunned when we attempted to contact the other assault team members.” McFarland flipped through another twenty slides, each one annotated with DECEASED on the bottom, stopping on McNeil’s slide. “It turns out that McNeil and Nagle were two of only three surviving men who entered the compound at Abbottabad. Now that they’re dead, there’s only one man left alive.”

McFarland advanced her brief to the next slide, which had a familiar picture and name.

Jake Edward Harrison.

Heads turned toward Harrison as he digested the information.

He’d been aware that several of the SEALs who participated in the bin Laden raid had died, but he hadn’t kept track of everyone. Until McFarland flipped through her slides, he hadn’t realized that he was the only member of the assault team still alive. Considering the odds of the entire team, sans one, meeting their demise, it left only one logical conclusion.

Someone was systematically killing every member of the assault team.

McNeil had put the pieces together and believed it was related to what the video revealed — that a man on the third floor had been taken captive, with the event being a closely held secret. That led to a second conclusion.

Osama bin Laden had been taken alive.

It seems the others around the table had reached the same conclusions. They eyed each other, waiting for someone to say aloud what each was thinking.

McFarland broke the silence, offering a more nuanced assessment. “Analysis has identified two primary scenarios. The first scenario is that Osama bin Laden was captured instead of killed. In an effort to keep that knowledge secret, the men who know he was taken alive or could piece things together are being silenced.

“The second scenario is that bin Laden was, in fact, killed, and al-Qaeda has learned the identities of the SEALs who participated in the Abbottabad raid and is arranging their deaths.”

McFarland turned to Christine, awaiting her questions or direction.

“Any comments?” Christine asked.

Rolow replied, “The implications of bin Laden being captured are far worse than al-Qaeda exacting revenge. If he was taken alive, we’d be dealing with a rogue U.S. organization covering its tracks, operating outside the law, willing to murder anyone who threatens to expose what they’ve done.”

Christine asked McFarland, “Any thoughts on how to proceed, from an Analysis perspective?”

“The first step should be to determine whether bin Laden was killed or taken captive. Once that’s determined, we’ll know which scenario we’re dealing with. I recommend a two-pronged approach. The first is to prove bin Laden was indeed the man killed on the third floor.”

“How do we do that?” Bryant asked. “The body was buried at sea.”

“It was, but what isn’t well known was that a sonic beacon was included in the plastic bag with the tie-down chains, so his body could be located and retrieved later if desired. The beacon has enough battery power to transmit for twenty years, maybe longer. With the necessary support, the body can be located and a DNA sample taken. That will determine whether the man we buried was bin Laden.”