The sea-launched cruise missiles slammed into the camp only about an hour or so after bin Laden left the conference, American officials believe. According to former senior Clinton administration officials, about 20 to 30 al-Qaeda members were killed, temporarily disrupting the organization.
But the attack failed in its unstated but clear objective, which was to kill bin Laden.
Consequences
One consequence was that bin Laden dramatically improved his own security measures. Realizing that the US had collected solid intelligence about his physical movements, he cut back on his use of electronic communications. US officials say he now tends to talk to subordinates only in person, and they then pass on his messages to others in the organization.
"He has become more sophisticated by becoming less sophisticated," said one former senior US official.
In addition, he moves frequently, traveling between Kandahar, the Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, and the rugged Afghan countryside farther north, US officials say. "He became much more secure in his communications and the only way to track him was to have people on the ground," said another former senior US official.
The Clinton administration has been criticized for not following up on its first missile attack with an all-out effort to get bin Laden. But former officials said that they lacked the "actionable intelligence," or precise information about bin Laden's whereabouts, to launch another attack.
"The main focus was location, location, location," said one former administration official. "We had intensive intelligence gathering efforts to track him."
In addition, the logistics of launching an attack by special forces in one of the most remote regions of the world also presented formidable obstacles. "We had a number of contingency plans, but logistically it was a nightmare," said a Clinton administration official.
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