Terrorist leader Osama bin Laden could have passed along secret messages hidden in portable hard drives, DVDs and CDs containing pornography, all of which were found at his compound in Pakistan where he died, according to a new documentary from National Geographic.
Members of SEAL Team Six discovered a large number of digital thumb drives, DVDs and CDs containing around 470,000 files, or about 250 gigabytes of data. However, although some reports said that multiple computers were found at the compound, the New York Post and the Sun report that the compound had no computers and no internet access, only televisions. Bin Laden wrote in letters to associates that he did not trust email, and sent most of his correspondence and orders through couriers before his death.
In the documentary, "Bin Laden's Hard Drive," which airs on Thursday, Sept. 10, Peter Bergen, the CNN analyst who was the first Western journalist to conduct a televised interview with bin Laden, says that the al-Qaida leader may have hidden messages in porn files to avoid detection.
"Exploring these hard drives, it's clear that digital information can say a lot. Osama bin Laden's files left behind an imprint of a complex man, responsible for the murder of thousands of people," Bergen said, according to The Sun.
"History will remember him for that but, in order to cut through the perception of this ascetic in a cave on a holy crusade, it's important for us to see how he crafted the videos that went out to his followers," he added.
"Understanding him is vital in order to combat other potential bin Ladens in the future."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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