By NATHAN HODGE
The raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan represents probably the biggest success so far of what the military calls „persistent surveillance,“ the ability to relay vast amounts of digital imagery through the unblinking eye of robotic aircraft or other spy gear.
Details about the surveillance equipment that may have been hovering overhead, or carried on the ground by Navy commandos, remain undisclosed. But former military officials said the elaborately scripted raid showed how the military has honed the ability to map the „pattern of life“ of terrorist networks by rewinding through massive amounts of video shot over extended periods of time, in addition to tapping other sources of intelligence.
„That’s the real game-changer here,“ said retired Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap, a former Air Force judge advocate general, referring to the tools of long-term surveillance, paired with precision weaponry. „Those capabilities not only resulted in the killing of bin Laden, but also forced him to be virtually incommunicado for years.“ (more on wsj.com)
