The US, which is reviewing a "treasure trove" of material seized from Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad hideout in Pakistan, hopes to get "real intelligence" on how the slain al-Qaeda chief operated while leading a secluded life, according to a senior official.
"We expect to learn more how bin Laden communicated, who he communicated with and how often he did it, what guidance did he pass on, what questions were passed on, how he operated, how he ran al-Qaeda and what did other people expect from bin Laden," the unnamed official was quoted as saying by CNN.
There is "real intelligence coming out of this", he said, adding the intelligence community expects to gain insights into how al-Qaeda operated.
The official, who was not authorised to speak on the record, said it is still very early in the review, and there are still a lot of data to sort through to determine whether there are any concrete plots. The initial review of the material has found mostly "aspirational" planning.
President Barack Obama, describing the material seized from bin Laden's compound as a "treasure trove of information", has said that it could serve the US very well in the weeks and months to come.
The special task force set up to examine the material has two initial goals, according to the official: check to see whether there are any imminent threats against the US and find leads to other terrorists or plots.
The reviewing team is working round-the-clock, according to the official. The task force assigned to scour the seized material is run by the CIA, with dozens of representatives from throughout the intelligence community working 24/7, searching for clues.
Most of the team is poring over the digital, audio and video files as well as printed and handwritten material from an undisclosed location in the Washington area, but some of the members are participating virtually, the report said.
The effort to decipher the data is time-consuming because much of it has to be translated, some is handwritten, and large digital files have to be transferred.
A senior US intelligence official had said last week that the material seen so far appeared to show that bin Laden had a "continuing interest in transportation and infrastructure targets." But there is no indication of any specific plot to attack those targets.
The senior official said the US believes that the Abbottabad compound was in effect a command and control centre for al-Qaeda because the confiscated material "clearly" shows that bin Laden remained an active leader in al-Qaeda, providing strategic, operational and tactical instructions to the group.
Though separated from many al-Qaeda members who are located in more remote areas of the region, bin Laden was "far from a figurehead", he said.
