MAY 27, 2011
U.S. Gains Entry To bin Laden's Pakistan House
By SIOBHAN GORMAN
WASHINGTON--Under a new agreement with Pakistan, Central Intelligence Agency forensics experts will begin scouring Osama bin Laden's residence Friday for hidden clues to the activities of al Qaeda and its late leader, officials said Thursday.
The deal, forged last week when CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell met in Pakistan with intelligence Chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, aims to diffuse some of the tension that has built up between the two countries and suggests that the raid on the bin Laden compound has stretched but not snapped a difficult relationship.
The CIA and its Pakistani counterparts have taken a week to act upon the deal because of the complicated logistics involved, particularly getting in place high-tech forensic equipment that can look through walls and examine other materials found on the site.
The agreement gives the U.S. its first entry into the site since the May 2 raid that killed bin Laden, allowing forensics experts to search the compound for additional information about al Qaeda. Pakistani officials hesitated but ultimately allowed the U.S. to question three women who were present during the raid. Islamabad also agreed to return the tail section of a U.S. helicopter that crashed during the Navy SEAL raid.
"It signifies and symbolizes the first steps toward restoration of confidence and normalcy between the intelligence services," a senior Pakistani official said. From the U.S. perspective, "it's a step in the right direction in terms of cooperation, but we don't know what's there yet," said one U.S. official.
Additional details about the compound emerged Thursday, with a senior Pakistani official saying the rooms in bin Laden's compound featured sound-proof walls. The in-depth search of the building may provide additional information on what security measures bin Laden built into the property, and why.
On the ground, dangers remain for Pakistanis recruited by the CIA to help prepare for the raid, the senior Pakistani official said. "Every individual who was working with [the CIA] is probably running scared right now," the official said.
Analysts have been combing through the materials seized in the 38-minute raid, which administration officials say are equivalent to the size of "a small college library." Pakistan is also helping the U.S. understand some of those materials.
Still, the relationship remains strained, U.S. and Pakistani officials say. The Pakistani official characterized the relationship as "a bad Catholic marriage," in which the husband and wife are extremely mad at each other but can't divorce.
U.S. officials have said they believe some element of the Pakistani government was complicit in hiding bin Laden. On the Pakistani side, officials believe the U.S.'s decision to keep the raid secret created undue embarrassment for top Pakistani leaders, including the chief of the army and the head of the intelligence service.
Even before the raid, tensions had hit a high point. At a meeting with CIA Director Leon Panetta on April 11, as the raid plans were ramping up, Lt. Gen. Pasha, the intelligence chief, expressed frustration that the Americans weren't telling him about some of their activities in his country.
U.S. officials remain frustrated by what they say is continued support by some Pakistani intelligence officers of militant groups that work with al Qaeda and attack U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Write to Siobhan Gorman at siobhan.gorman@wsj.com