Bin Laden's home, raided on May 1 in an operation in which he was
killed, was said to have contained advanced equipment, including five
computers, 100 remote electronic storage devices, and 10 hard drives to
communicate with networks in Africa and Asia. Officials said the compound
contained a multi-media studio used by Bin Laden to produce audio and
video messages to key
operatives.
Officials said Bin Laden was believed to have relayed directives to
virtually all Al Qaida networks. They said Al Qaida was in contact with
networks in the Gulf, Horn of Africa, North Africa, East Asia and Chechnya.
"He was an inspirational and operational leader," House Intelligence
Committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers said.
Officials said Bin Laden might have been closest to Al Qaida in the
Arabian Peninsula, which focused on Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Over the last 18
months, AQAP staged three attempts to bomb U.S. airliners.
"If there is any retaliation in the short-term, I think it will come
from AQAP," former House Intelligence Committee chairman Peter Hoekstra said
on May 5.
The White House has acknowledged that Bin Laden's compound could contain
clues that would help capture his deputy, Ayman Zawahiri. Officials
did not discount that Bin Laden had been planning major attacks from his
haven near Islamabad.
"First of all and most importantly in any case is any evidence of
planned attacks," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "Second would be
information that could lead to other high-value targets or other networks
that exist that maybe we don’t know about or that we only know a little bit
about. And then, you know, third and more broadly, on the Al Qaida network
itself and in the sustaining network for Bin Laden in Pakistan — what
allowed him to live in that compound for as long as he did."