Subterfuge

Vaccination Drive Targeted bin Laden’s DNA

Pakistan has arrested doctor who helped CIA.

An exciting new detail in the CIA’s plot to snare Osama bin Laden: The agency organized a fake vaccination program in the town where he was hiding in an attempt to obtain DNA from a member of his family. Their hope was to discover one of bin Laden’s children, which would help them to prove that he was living nearby. The U.S. even recruited a Pakistani doctor, who has since been arrested by Pakistan’s intelligence service, ISI. According to the Guardian, the U.S. is concerned for the doctor’s safety and is believed to have intervened on his behalf. He was apparently able to send a nurse into the bin Laden compound with medical supplies and a bag containing an electronic device. It’s unclear if she succeeded in obtaining DNA; one source tells the Guardian the plot failed.