Operation Neptune Spear: Killing bin Laden | 60 Minutes Archive
In a Nutshell
Mark Owen, a SEAL Team 6 operator, recounts Operation Neptune Spear—the 2011 raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed Osama bin Laden—detailing the helicopter crash, improvised assaults clearing the compound, bin Laden's identification via child/wife confirmation and DNA/photos, and exfiltration after 38 minutes on the ground. Despite mission hitches like the crash and hostile locals, SEALs adapted seamlessly, grabbing vital intel and confirming the kill with codeword "Geronimo E-K-I-A" before Obama's announcement. In *No Easy Day*, Owen honors the decade-long intel/planning effort by hundreds, emphasizing team valor over individual shots, while defending the book against Pentagon claims of secrecy breaches.
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Mark Owen, pseudonym for a SEAL Team 6 member who recently left the Navy's elite counterterrorism unit, shot Osama bin Laden. He was on the helicopter that crashed into the compound, second man in bin Laden's bedroom, took pictures of the body. Received Silver Star for valor and Purple Heart for wound in raid. No Easy Day is tribute to hundreds of Americans who gathered intelligence, planned, trained over ten years; SEAL Team 6 handled last 40 minutes.
Mission was kill or capture, not kill-only. Training emphasized capture alive if feasible, not assassination.
Raid on May 1, 2011, years in making. Best-laid plans failed, SEALs improvised from near disaster. Operation one of most significant in U.S. history. Owen in disguise for interview to focus on book, not himself; for security as enemy has long memory. Appearance altered with four hours makeup, shadows, voice changed. Navy 14 years, read about SEALs in junior high. 13 combat deployments since 9/11: Afghanistan, Iraq, all over. Rose to SEAL Team 6, Naval Special Warfare Development Group, multiple squadrons. His squadron chosen as available for training, nothing special about them or 24 guys.
April 2011, returned from Afghanistan, reported to North Carolina for exercise. Briefing room had model of compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Buddies said they found bin Laden, or think so; rehearse ground option. CIA tracked bin Laden courier to compound. Compound too big for neighborhood, no telephone, burned trash, 12-foot wall, walled-in balcony. Pacer paced yard for exercise, walked in circles in courtyard with vegetation blocking surveillance, sometimes with female, never helped with work, acted like boss. In Abbottabad five years, city of one million, mile from Pakistani Military Academy. Zero intel on inside layout.
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