Lawyers Pivotal In Bin Laden’s Assassination

Four federal lawyers, working in intense secrecy, developed rationales to overcome any legal obstacles to killing Osama Bin Laden in the weeks leading up to the May 2011 raid on the terrorist leader, the New York Times reports. The lawyers did their own research, wrote memos on highly secure laptops and had drafts delivered in person by trusted couriers. They were not allowed to consult aides, or the administration’s top lawyer, then-Attorney General Eric H. Holder. The result of their work: five secret memos that could be used to support the rationale for the raid, “particularly if the operation goes terribly badly,” explained Stephen W. Preston, the CIA’s general counsel. The Times explains how the lawyers’ work made it all but certain that Navy SEALs would kill Osama Bin Laden rather than capture him.