The Team House Bin Laden Sighted in 2005 in Pakistan with Jack Murphy & Sean Naylor
Dec 4, 2025
Sean Naylor, a veteran national-security reporter and author, joins to discuss a captivating sighting of Osama Bin Laden in 2005 captured by a CIA contractor. They dive into the backstory of how the photos were obtained, the initial certainty followed by doubts in the CIA, and the tensions with the ISI over sharing information. Naylor elaborates on Bin Laden's movements and the implications of the CIA's findings, while teasing upcoming investigations, including the controversial Havana Syndrome. Their insights reveal the complexities of intelligence operations and international relations.
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Source Handed Photos Of 2005 Sighting
- Jack Murphy recounts meeting a CIA contractor who handed him a manila folder with photographs of someone who appeared to be Osama bin Laden taken in 2005.
- He waited over a decade to publish because the source was initially unwilling to come forward and needed protection.
CIA Photo Analysis Then Doubts Emerged
- Photo analysts at CIA headquarters initially assessed the stills as almost certainly being Osama bin Laden and rated the ID above the 90th percentile.
- Later reporting suggested the subject was likely a doppelganger and not bin Laden after further investigation.
Field Team Tracked Down The Lookalike
- Sean Naylor describes a CIA-led mission posing as a MedCap where officers and SEALs were flown into Kunar to verify the sighting.
- The CIA officer met the man in question face to face and was told he resembled bin Laden but was a local Afghan lumber merchant.
