The U.S. Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden has revealed a special gift he gave to the “badass” CIA analyst who spent years tracking down the world’s most wanted terrorist.
Under orders from then-President Barack Obama, U.S. intelligence agencies and elite military units carried out the operation that eventually located the al Qaeda leader in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011.
At the heart of the intelligence work was a determined CIA analyst from an informal group known as “The Sisterhood,” a team of women analysts who helped connect the dots leading to bin Laden’s hideout.
Former SEAL Team Six member Robert O’Neill, now 50, recently shared new details about the mission, including the moment he gave the analyst a personal keepsake after the raid was completed.
‘One-way mission’ to kill bin Laden
As the SEALs prepared to fly into Pakistan, O’Neill said everyone involved understood the mission could easily end in death.
“We were going after bin Laden for the first Americans who were forced to fight al Qaeda, to the death, toe-to-toe,” O’Neill told the New York Post. “This would be a one-way mission. You’re not afraid you’re gonna die, but you’re prepared for death.”
Despite that, confidence remained high, with the CIA analyst playing a key role in guiding them through detailed intelligence about the compound.
“The lead CIA analyst who found bin Laden was this badass, no-nonsense woman,” he said. “She walked us through exactly how she tracked him down and what we should expect at the compound, in very detailed terms.”
Pre-mission tension
Just before boarding the helicopter to Abbottabad, O’Neill recalled a brief exchange with the analyst that showed the pressure both sides were under.
“I was like, ‘Hey, why are you nervous?’” he said.
“And she looked at me and said, ‘Why aren’t you nervous?’ I was like, we do this kind of thing all the time, flying somewhere and causing chaos—but this time, everything has to be right. It’s going to be a longer flight for you than for us.”
‘Just like the woman said’
After landing, SEAL Team Six entered the dark compound and moved room to room searching for the terrorist.
“Down the long hallway there was a stairwell. The CIA analyst said Khalid bin Laden would definitely be there, and if you take him out, you get a shot at the main target.”
O’Neill said Khalid was exactly where she predicted: “Just like the woman said.”
As they moved deeper inside, they saw movement behind a curtain.
“We thought they were suicide bombers,” he said. “We went through the curtain and moved it aside—they turned out to be Bin Laden’s wives.”
‘Geronimo’
Moments later, O’Neill came face to face with bin Laden.
“I turned right and there was bin Laden, standing there, three feet away.”
He said he immediately recognized him. “He was thinner than I expected. His beard was gray. His hands were on his wife Amal’s shoulders. I thought it was a threat—like he might detonate something.”
“At SEAL Team Six, we shoot twice in the head right away. I shot him twice, then again with my H&K 416. He fell at the foot of the bed.”
Almost immediately, the weight of what had happened hit him.
“I just shot bin Laden—like what the f**k?”
Soon after, the code word “Geronimo,” signaling bin Laden had been killed, was transmitted and the team celebrated.
The gift to the CIA analyst
After the mission, the SEALs returned to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, where O’Neill met the analyst again—later portrayed by Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty.
“You could tell it was her life’s work,” he said. “She would point at the model of the compound and say exactly where bin Laden was, frustrated that action wasn’t being taken.”
To honor her role, O’Neill gave her something deeply personal.
“I took the magazine from my rifle that I used in the raid, still holding the remaining 27 rounds, and asked her, ‘Do you have room for this in your backpack?’” he said. “She said, ‘I think I do.’”
Later, back at base, when they saw bin Laden’s body, O’Neill expected emotion after years of pursuit—but she remained matter-of-fact.
“She looked down and said, ‘F**k, I’m out of a job.’”
