The United States is trying to identify terrorist threats or plans hidden in the huge cache of material recovered from the hideout of slain Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, a senior official has said.
"The top priority is to identify any threat information and to disseminate it widely within the US government and with our foreign partners. Of course, other top priority is to exploit the information to attract leads to other members of Al Qaeda," the intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.
Coverage: US hunts down Osama bin Laden
"The treasure trove of information have provided some golden nuggets of information on communications within the Al Qaeda and we hope to get a better sense as it continues," he said.
The CIA, which has set up a task force, to go through every piece of material obtained during the raid, said that the US is still cataloging them.
The official, however, did not give the quantity of material obtained during the raid, except for saying that most of the information, would however remain classified for long.
"We want to make sure that we methodically process this material so that we get the highest quality intelligence from this collection," he said.
In one of the audio-less video which was released by the US on Saturday, bin Laden was very critical of the US and denigrating capitalism, according to the official.
"In the material that we have seen so far, he has continued to show interest in transportation and infrastructure targets," the official said, adding that the Al Qaeda Laden was planning to attack the US homeland.
54-year-old bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist, was shot dead early this month by US forces in a successful operation in Pakistan's garrison city of Abbottabad.
This week, the US Department of Homeland Security issued a general alert about security of railway and mass transit systems in large cities, which was based on the information obtained from these materials.
Noting that Al Qaeda financing is an important factor, he said the US is looking into any insight that these materials could provide about the terrorist outfit's funds.
Terming it as the greatest intelligence success, perhaps, of the generation, the official said: "This is a hunt for a top Al Qaeda leader that has spanned nearly 10 years. This is a classic and historic intelligence success."
Observing that the intelligence community is in the initial stages of analysing the materials that the assault team recovered from bin Laden's compound, the official said identifying any imminent threats and plotting is their top priority.
"A multi-agency task force led by the CIA has been established to triage, catalogue, and analyse this intelligence," the official said.
The task force is working around the clock and will draw on the expertise of the CIA, DHS (Department of Homeland Security), DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, FBI, the National Media Exploitation Center, NCTC (National Counter terrorism Center), NGA (National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency), NSA and Treasury.
"This collection represents the most significant amount of intelligence ever collected from a senior terrorist. It includes digital, audio and video files of varying sizes, printed materials, computer equipment, recording devices and handwritten documents," the official said.
