Some of the intelligence captured by US navy Seals and collected in garbage bags during the raid to terminate Bin Laden included a series of letters, some of which has been made available free online at the "Combating Terrorism Center" website at West Point Military Academy (http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/letters-from-abbottabad-bin-ladin-sidelined ).
2012-0000015-HT
One letter with the SOCOM designation “2012-0000015-HT” reveal the al-Qaeda leader’s anti drone strategy to his operatives in Pakistan:
“Regarding the brothers in Wasiristan in general, whoever can keep a low profile and take the necessary precautions, should stay in the area and those who cannot do so, their first option is to go to Nuristan in Kunar, Gazni or Zabil. I am leaning toward getting most of the brothers out of the area. We could leave the cars because they are targeting cars now, but if we leave them, they will start focusing on houses and that would increase casualties among women and children. It is possible that they have photographed targeted homes. The brothers who can keep a low profile and take the necessary precautions should stay, but move to new houses on a cloudy day.”
- Move to and from new safe house locations on “cloudy days”.
- Leave cars and vehicle because they can be targeted
I talked with some ex-military who indicated that Bin Laden’s advice is “pretty damn good”.
“Cloudy days” obscure satellites and make it more difficult to view objects on the ground .Cloudy days also make it more difficult for electronic devices on drones to operate and feed video footage back to command centers. The reason is interference and moisture. In some cases during storms it caused electrical interference, all of which hampers operations. The ex-military said that cloudy sky inhibit the use of anti missile defenses, which was a surprise to me. My buddies shared an article about all this called: “Cloudy Skies Knock Out Anti-Missile Defense! “ (see thread: http://apolyton.net/showthread.php/126475-ARTICLE-Cloudy-Skies-Knock-Out-Anti-Missile-Defense!?s=37b27b59e26140eaaa4422168265ead1 ).
In another part of the letter he makes reference to his bastard son Hamzah:
“Regarding my son Hamzah and his mother, I wish you take all the security precautions that were mentioned before in order to disrupt surveillance on him. He should move only when the clouds are heavy.”
Bin Laden continues:
“A warning to the brothers: they should not meet on the road and move in their cars because many of them got targeted while they were meeting on the road. They also should not enter the market in their cars.”
Again Bin Laden warns his operatives “not to meet” on the road or move in their cars.
The reason is obvious they can become targets for drone and aircraft.
In another excerpt he councils his agents to limit their numbers when traveling and meeting each other:
“Note: tell the brothers that the ban is not only to those who come by car. The amir should not meet anyone except the two carriers. The Americans have great accumulative experience in photography of the area due to the fact that they have been doing it in the area for so many years. They can distinguish between houses frequented by men at a higher rate than usual. Also, the visiting person might be tracked without him knowing. This applies to locals too.”
The reference in this case is probably to “satellite photography” and surveillance from spy satellites.
HOW TO HANDLE RANSOM MONEY
Bin Laden on handling ransom money:
“Regarding the negotiations for the release of the Afghani prisoner in your area, you should be careful in the way that you deal with the negotiators. Many mistakes can happen when you receive the money. This also applies to donation money. You should take all security precautions. My suggestion is to rent a house in Peshawar and the money should be delivered in it. After the mission, the brother leaves the house. Make sure to get the money exchanged at money exchangers. You should also get rid of the bag that the money was in because it might have a chip. The brother should take the money, get in a taxi, and go to the center of the market and get to a roofed section of the market. Two brothers should be waiting for him there and he should give them the money to bring it to you. The money should be in euro or dollars. After that, he should evade surveillance and stay away from the brothers that he gave the money to. Negotiators should not be met in Wasiristan (the area where the American aerial photography is active), unless there is a perfect plan that would prevent the enemy for tracking those negotiators or the brothers. You should know that the news of the negotiations might reach the Americans.”
Of interest is the fact that the money should be “washed” or exchanged at money exchangers. This to prevent “tracking” by microchip by getting rid of the bag the cash was delivered in.
I shared this with hostage negotiators in France by email who were appreciate of the information. Any person dealing with hostage situations and ransom demands should study the document to learn about al-Qaeda’s ransom cash handling procedures, especially the escape and evade methods he outlines in this letter
More importantly, perhaps, the Bin Laden letter gives “key insight” into the minds of the hostage takers. It also reveals the greed and paranoia they have in being “tracked or followed.”
It is during the exchange that is most dangerous for the hostage takers. In discussing this with a wide range of people it was commonly agreed that Al-Qaeda was rather ingenious in its methods of handling ransom money demanded for the exchange of hostages.
(Source: http://www.wkyc.com/assetpool/documents/120503094335_SOCOM-2012-0000015%20Trans.pdf ).
Robert Tilford