US releases new set of Osama bin Laden documents

The US today released new set of documents - mostly in Arabic along with an accompanying English translation - that it recovered from the Abbottabad hideout of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed in a mid-night raid by American commandos in the Pakistani town.
This is the second tranche to be released. The first tranche was released on May 20, 2015.
The additional declassified material released today reflect on a range of topics, including reporting fissures between AQ and AQ in Iraq and Osama's concern about the group's public image-and his desire to depict it as a united organisation.

According to Director of National Intelligence, which released these documents, in the period shortly before his death, Osama placed the utmost importance on portraying his fraying organization as a united enterprise - while his lieutenants privately wrestled with their growing schism from al-Qaeda in Iraq.
As the 10 anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approached, bin Laden envisioned a worldwide media campaign, suggesting his media team work with specific news outlets.
"It's important that the documents collected at bin Laden's compound be made available to the public. This was no easy feat as members of the task force dedicated themselves over a long period of time working in an Intelligence Community facility to review and declassify as many documents as possible," said Brian Hale, ODNI Director of Public Affairs.

The latest publication aligns with the president's call for increased transparency-consistent with national security prerogatives-and the 2014 Intelligence Authorization Act, which required the ODNI to conduct a review of the documents for release, a media statement said.