defined right now could be defined by new factors. i think there's a great feeling of optimism, and a great feeling of closure by the death of this person, that has become hated in the middle east. he was considered someone who was despicable and who disgraced arabs and muslims. >> i'm going to interrupt you. we are going to get all our information together. it is 11:00 now on the east coast. i am david gregory in washington. president obama is preparing to address the nation tonight with a major development, that is that osama bin laden the most wanted terrorist in the world, the man behind the deadly 9/11 attacks that changed america is dead. osama bin laden is dead. the president will announce in mere moments that it was a u.s. military action that killed him, that u.s. personnel were responsible for his death and that the united states has the body in its custody.

this, we believe, was an incident that occurred in pakistan where osama bin laden for years has been believed to be hiding. we have seen him periodically appear on videotapes on al jazeera, broadcast throughout the arab world. the wars in afghanistan and iraq, particularly the war in afghanistan that was launched in an effort to bring both al qaeda down and osama bin laden down. and now it has happened. the president will take america through the developments that led to osama bin laden's death tonight. we are awaiting the president who will speak late on a sunday night. and he will take us through those developments. we have all of our correspondents in place. chuck todd in the white house, our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell who has covered the war on terrorism and its many incarnations since 9/11 and

including before on osama bin laden. our colleague said it, this is nothing short of a breathtaking development the president will announce. >> the last report on bin laden was 1997 on "nightly news." that's when he was first identified as the key operational leader. over the years, we've seen many killed and captures of these top al qaeda officials, but it was always osama bin laden, the one figure that the u.s. really wanted desperately to get, largely because of the 9/11 obviously, the importance of that, as richard engle was pointing out. the importance to all the men and women who enlisted after 9/11, who was inspired by that who wanted to take action and become engaged. even though bin laden has not been as operational in recent years because he's been surrounded and isolated by american military actions and covert actions. even though he has not been the

key leader of al qaeda that he once was, he is such a major figure that it does change the world as we know it. i'm not sure it changes the threat levels immediately, because there are factions of al qaeda now all over the world in asia and throughout the -- obviously the middle east, david? >> and the white house, our chief white house correspondent waiting for developments, chuck todd. chuck, 3,000 people killed on 9/11. it has been more than 3,500 days since that attack, as americans and allies around the world have sought bin laden in search of justice, and now apparently that has come. describe what you've been able to pick up, just being in the white house on a day of secret, but a lot of activity there. >> it is, it is secret and active all at the same time. everybody trying to tell us, hint at us how big this was before, of course, we had other sources confirm what we're reporting about the death and capture of osama bin laden.

we're four months short of the ten-year anniversary. and david, don't underestimate the symbolic impact of this. we heard general mccaffrey talk about how this was going to be such a huge morale boost to the troops over there fighting this near ten-year long ward, decade-long war in afghanistan. but it's also going to have a symbolic impact because the first wave of troop withdrawals out of afghanistan, and we went in there to get this guy. those first withdrawals are scheduled in the next 60 days. and the impact that's going to have on the president's policy on what you're going to see members of congress want to see. we know that there's a lot of fatigue in the american public. this is going a welcome development and relief to the american public. but what this is going to be mean to the future of our policy in afghanistan, it could change quite dramatically in the next 90 days, david. >> and let me just keep reminding our viewers, if you're tuning into this special report, late in the night, prime time on the west coast, after 11:00 on

the east coast, we are waiting for president obama who will address the nation, we understand, in approximately ten minutes now. for the past hour, at least, he has personally been engaged in drafting remarks of great national significance, related to just what happened. we believe in pakistan. again, a u.s. military operation that targeted and killed bin laden. the u.s. has his body in custody, and the president will go through the operation that led to his death. we're trying to both report the details as we learn them but also capture the significance of this moment. our colleague reporting from libya, the site of another u.s. and major nato operation says this is a breathtaking development. this is a search for a terrorist that defined a generation of warriors and our armed forces, but certainly defined a war on terror initiated since that time in 9/11.

alg andrea mitchell, the trail for bin laden had gone quite cold. a counterterrorism operation begun after 9/11. a heavy use of drone attacks in pakistan targeting major qualifying you'res. but the question would be asked over and over again, where do you think bin laden is and when was the last time you had good intelligence on his whereabouts. but president bush, president obama, everyone agreed, to capture him, to kill him, to bring him to justice would have a major psychological impact on this country. >> absolutely. and there were times in 2002 and 2003. and then we know it was a big issue in the campaign in 2004, john kerry arguing that he could have been captured in tora bora if troops had not been moved from afghanistan to iraq. that became a big campaign issue. another irony, this is the eighth anniversary, may 1, of mission accomplished in iraq. the appearance by president

george w. bush on the abraham lincoln that was a premature declaration and became controversial in itself. but mission accomplished became an iconic phrase in u.s. political policy and political parlance. and now this could be president obama coming out, without literally saying it, accomplishing the mission which two american presidents tried before to capture or kill osama bin laden, david? thf became, chuck todd, a major element of the political debate. in a robust war on terror, why is it the united states could not capture or kill osama bin laden? the recent history tells us that the u.s. forces got closest to him in afghanistan, at tora bora, and he was able to, it was said, slip out the backdoor back in pakistan in that tribal rugged area where there was a

bounty on his head of $25 million, yet nobody was turning him in. he was able to ied effectively. and it became a part of the political debate. why is it the u.s. can't get him? >> right. our colleague over in the political unit reminds me, today is the eighth anniversary of the president giving his infamous mission accomplished speech on that aircraft carrier. the politics of that and what is involved in this whole issue of getting this guy and him being the focus and focal point and the complicated diplomatic politics of the relationship of pakistan always made this tricky. and bin laden knew that and he was always able to take advantage of that. and it looks like hide in pakistan. it's as if we always knew where he was in general, just never specific enough to get someone in there. >> i interviewed the commander

of the u.s. forces, general petraeus, now named to the head of the central intelligence agency. i asked him at this point whether he felt pakistan could deliver osama bin laden. it had been a kre that had been raised for some time. secretary clinton raised the question why pakistan couldn't deliver him. tom brokaw interviewed the president musharraf of back stan. he said to go after him would destabilize the country of pakistan, a crucial ally. sometimes a difficult ally, but an ally in a region and a fight. general petraeus said it took him four weeks to get out a congratulatory message or condolence message, showing how far buried he was in the mountainous region of pakistan. and as i turn to general barry mccaffrey as well. general, it was general petraeus who said back in august that he

still thought that bin laden remained an iconic figure, he told me. he thought killing or capturing bin laden was very, very important for all of those engaged in counterterrorism around the world. and now tonight, president obama will announce to the country and the world that the united states has killed him. are you with us? >> david, it strikes me that this is not nearly as important news in the united states for our armed forces, but the police and intelligence services of the european nations, of saudi arabia, of pakistan. this is a threat that had tremendous relevance to many nations. >> indeed, andrea mitchell, covering the diplomatic end of this. this was a worldwide fight and the intelligence gathered and relied upon from around the world from the saudis and others in the arab world was incredibly

important, but it didn't change the fact that that this remained a figure who was isolated and protected. >> and, of course, huge tensions between america and pakistani intelligence over this, over their failure to help, and the lack of trust, which we saw most notably in the recent arrest for three months of raymond davis, a cia contractor or operative. the fact that there were so many tensions with the pakistanis. close relationships, of course, with the saudis and others in the region. british intelligence, german intelligence, french, throughout the region. the 9/11 commissions report, david, and a lot of the flaws found were corrected after the fact. this will be a huge boost to all of them. >> i want to turn it over to our colleague brian williams in new york to pick up the coverage from here. brian, we await the president as you've heard up till now. >> a few moments ago, i heard an analyst on the radio catch

herself after saying this is the biggest piece of news since 9/11. and as you've been saying in our coverage, this ends an era, not only the mastermind of 9/11, but the inventor of al qaeda, the founder of that organization, which is today markedly different and splintered and if anything covers more real estate around the world. and some would tell you is of greater danger in its kind of retail nature, but has changed significantly since the pentagon was attacked, since the buildings were brought down in lower manhattan and, of course, the plane in shanksville, pennsylvania. our chief correspondent richard engle following this news, as will the rest of the world when the president makes the announcement official. again, the white house just made a series of notifications, journalists among them that a big story was coming tonight. some were told the news explicitly and in the white house parlance were told to keep it as a close hold.

this story started to leak out in the public domain largely when some congressional staffers started making some phone calls on their own. the u.s. undoubtedly will be worried about threat levels and readiness levels at all u.s. installations and bases overseas. tell us the various ways this coverage will cut throughout the world. >> we were one of those people who got this information about an hour ago. and i think threat levels will around the world in the short term be very high. al qaeda will certainly try to say it is still relevant, it is still in the game. but over the long term, this is an incredibly significant blow. al qaeda and osama bin laden, particularly osama bin laden, has been the symbol of the resistance movement against the united states, against its

project to bring democracy to the middle east for the last decade. and now with the word that, not only has he been killed, but the united states has his body. and that, i think, will be the key thing in all of this. that the united states, the special operations forces and congratulations to them this evening, was able, not only to reach out into pakistan, into the tribal areas, where we're assuming this incident took place, and to not only kill osama bin laden, but to retrieve his body. that will be an incredibly significant moral blow to the militants and will show that the united states wasn't kidding when it launched this war on terrorism. it wasn't a joke, it wasn't a myth, that the united states did have the power to carry out an effective operation on the ground. and that's what so many people were doubting after the war in iraq, after the war in afgh afghanist afghanistan, after the war in afghanistan was renewed again.

people were worried that the united states didn't have the capability and it was simply a myth. i think after they produce a body and say this is what we have accomplished, many people in the arab world, particularly, will be very impressed. >> before i go back to david gregory in washington for a bit, because of the burden of proof, especially in the arab world, given the vagaries there, the need for proof, the need for dna, point out for a moment, if you will, the dna testing that's been going on for the better part of a decade. >> oh, this is going to have to be very, very clear in the arab world. they're going to have to show his face. they're going to have to show his body. they're going to not just take it on dna testing. the united states can't show a vile of blood and say this is osama bin laden. the arab world will want to see something that looks like osama

bin laden with an american soldier standing next to him. the burden of proof is very, very high, brian. >> richard engle, our chief correspondent following this news and awaiting the president's announcement, as are we. it was originally posted for 10:30 eastern time, about 45 minutes ago. it has slid. the president, all we were told earlier, was he was on the telephone notifying all the number of congressional committees. and daifds grvid gregory, of co the leadership needs to be told. l leon panetta was making some of those calls, the defense secretary designate, long-time cia leader and all the various intelligence, defense and related committees. both sides of the aisle all need to be informed. >> and they have been informed. the vice president involved in that, the cia director, of course. the president himself, as you can imagine, brian, has been working on these remarks throughout the day as they've been monitoring events coming out of pakistan.

i think it bears repeating. the question that you asked was so important to richard engle -- proof. we also remember the weekend announcement about saddam hussein, then the pictures released of a man inspecting a bearded saddam hussein after he was captured. here, proof of the body, as government officials are telling us, u.s. operation, u.s. personnel involved in killing bin laden. this will both need to be declarative, but also runs some risk, as you raised, in terms o bin laden, and sees the u.s. handling. but this is different and less controversial in many ways. as general petraeus said to us back in august. this is an iconic figure for everyone engaged in counterterrorism around the world. this is not just about the united states. >> david, just in terms of your broadcast every sunday morning. and remember, we have viewers tuning in across the time zones,

across the country, hearing the news about this, think of the tone and tenor and content this has marked, defined u.s. foreign policy. two wars were launched at least in the name of 9/11. of course, we have americans on a third front, fighting, you know, as part of a no-boots-on-the-ground policy as we go through what piece being called arab spring. >> it changed the country. 9/11 changed the country. it changed our armed forces. it changed our sense of vulnerability. it defined a presidency. george bush's presidency, who launched a war in afghanistan in search of bin laden, and towards the destruction of al qaeda.

even though there were no weapons of mass destruction in iraq, it defined our entire approach to national security. and just as president bush wrote chapter one in that war on terror, president obama came into office, promising to refashion america's image abroad. and yet there was amazing continuity in that pursuit of terrorists, counterterrorism policy, more robust policies, of drone attacks in pakistan, and indeed, a robust effort to continue to target senior al qaeda leadership. as you know, brian, question after question, month after month, where is bin laden. why has the trail gone cold. why can't the u.s. find him. why can't pakistan produce him. and now it has led to a new president, a democratic president coming after a republican who will announce to the world that the united states killed him. of. >> >> atia abawi is our

correspondent in london. i don't think it's too early to talk about the reaction to this news. let's start with the arab world. >> it's interesting, when you go throughout parts of the arab world, when you talk about osama bin laden, many people will point to conspiracy theorys. for the past ten year, they will say that bin laden has a, already died or gotten away. the fact that osama bin laden no longer has that much of an effect when it comes to the insurgencies in these parts of the world. when you look at afghanistan, in a place as primitive as afghanistan, a majority of the afghans don't even know what 9/11 was. and the taliban fighters that we see fighting are soldiers on the ground have no idea who osama bin laden is, or they've possibly heard of him. one thing we have to remember is that they no longer take orders from al qaeda, that they're operating under new leadership. but we also have to look at the

psychological impact it's going to have on the fighters themselves. right now, when you look at the war in afghanistan, many people think the psychological win has come to the taliban in the last couple of years because of the victories that they've gained. but this is going to be a tremendous psychological effect for the american troops on the ground, the nato troops on the ground. so it will have an impact on the war when it comes to the psychological event. when you look at the counterinsurgency strategy implemented in 2009. general mcchrystal mentioned in his assessment, whichever side thinks they're winning will actually be victorious in the war. so this in a way can affect that very important effect when it comes to the psychological impact. brian? >> thank you for that. andrea mitchell is in washington. andrea, it's interesting, and again for those just joining us, we are soon going to be going to the east room of the white house

for live coverage of the president's address to the nation. journalists were told tonight in the likely event the president requested live air time from the white house foreign address on national security. it has subsequently come out and people will long remember where they were when they heard the news that osama bin laden is dead, has been proven dead, details to come from the president. terrorist groups in the back channels over the year, diminishing the importance of osama bin laden, as they grow as splinters in size. we've heard various u.s. politicians, members of at least two administrations and military commanders say it isn't exactly an obsession. we would like to get him. he's in the back of our minds. yet you and i know that when these people go on background and off the record when you get the out of them, this terrorist

defined the last ten years of american foreign policy. and, of course, gave us this absolute catastrophe on american soil. >> he defined american policy and the way we live. because since 9/11, not only the way we live, the way we travel, the way our public buildings operate, the closing of avenues and the pair kads around buildings, the public, the people's house, the houses of congress, all constrained by the war on terror and the effects and fear of another attack after 9/11. this does not mean that this is the end of terrorism. and as we've been pointing out, he was no longer believed to be operational as other leaders who succeeded him in splinter groups. in yemen, these other groups who

have been launching terrorism in the united states. there have been noticeable successes, some of which haven't been reported. >> that said, he's hugely important, as atia was pointing out, psychologically important and politically important. let's face it. the president was asked september 10 about why he had not yet been able to capture or kill osama bin laden. at that news conference, he said it's still a high priority. it's not an obsession, but it is a high priority. he wept on to say they have accomplished other things. no political leader is going to say yes, it's our highest priority and it is a failure that we haven't captured him. but now they can clearly point to a very big operational success, a huge boost for american military and covert operatives, and also a psychological effect and a political effect. this is a very -- this is a game changer for barack obama and for the u.s. military. >> it can also be reporteded that this will affect alert levels at a lot of united states

facilities around the globe. and i can tell you firsthand here in new york city after 9/11, the nypd started a program that's been going under several different code names. one of them hercules where they just -- and if you visited new york as a tourist, you've seen this. they will put together anywhere from after dozen to two dozen nypd cruisers and simply send them down the city streets, lights flashing, no sirens, as simply in some cases a feint to indicate to people they are on to something. in other cases, a show of force. tonight, coming through cross town traffic, i saw many, many nypd vehicles driving, almost jennerically through the city streets with their lights flashing. and we have confirmed that new

yorkers will see some instances of heightened security, traveling in the city and into and out of the city. that's to be expected. there will be some domestic effects of this news just as a precaution as well. chuck todd has been spending this evening in the briefing room behind the wall, behind chuck is the press secretary's office up the hall. chuck, some journalists got a three-word e-mail tonight reading simply, get to work. others were briefed with a little bit more detail. >> yes. and there were a tllot of initials -- let's say big deal initials were used in those e-mails. what you were seeing in new york city, there's a small crowd gathered outside the white house right now, chanting and cheering. they've sung the national an th anthem. they're singing "we are the champions." a lit bit of a flash mob has word trickles out.

a different type of a protest, if you will. we're used to seeing crowds, small groups gather outside the white house for various topics. rarely for something that seems to be collective good news like this, brian. but we do know that part of this delay has to do with, they want to make sure that they are making all the calls to everybody in congressional leadership. as you pointed earlier, that's when word started trickling out and confirmation started coming in. >> absolutely. sixth avenue in new york, people spontaneously learning on their personal electronic devices, spontaneously walking up to other groups of people saying, have you heard? this is truly one of those moments people will remember where they were when they heard osama bin laden is dead. and in two minutes, i am told, we will switch to the cameras many the east room of the white house. again, all of those notifications are apparently finished now, and as soon as the

camera shot comes up showing the paid yum, the white house lets us access the shot in the last few moments of the president walking up to it. we will go there. we've had this start time delayed many times. almost about 50 minutes after the first posted time we were going to hear from the president. again, as chuck and others have reported tonight, they wanted to be sure. they wanted to be sure notifications had all been made. it's a lot of committees, a lot of committee chairmanships, ranking members on the other side as well as foreign leaders. a lot of these calls were signed and doled out tonight. we are allegedly within two minutes of this remark from the president. but this has happened. we've had a few false starts here this evening. again, i'm now being told that was a false two-minute warning to the president. about our third of the evening. jim miklaszewski at the

pentagon, jim, what can you tell us about alert levels? especially at the u.s. bases that would make sense? say the sprawling base in kabul. >> we can say nobody has hard intelligence that there would be any retaliation against military bases anywhere around the world. but the threat levels have been raised as a precaution. as a matter of fact, this is the kind of exercise that has been in place for years should the news hit that osama bin laden was killed or captured. and i can tell you from the special operation forces and the cia, that this is the best possible outcome in terms of getting osama bin laden. one of the fears, of course, is that he may be killed in one of those drone missile strikes, or die of natural causes. and the world wouldn't know about it. but in this case, according to officials up on capitol hill and elsewhere, not only was osama

bin laden shot and killed, but they do have his body. and we're still seeking clarification, because there are conflicting reports whether this happened in pakistan or afghanistan. as you know, brian, that border between the two is very porous and has allowed for the streaming back and forth of taliban and many enemy forces. so it wouldn't come as any surprise in that mountainous region of the border that osama bin laden may be able to slip back and forth. this is, according to officials, the result of good intelligence work, but also you can not discount the constant pounding from those cia predator drones in that mountainous area where many al qaeda, including osama bin laden were thought to have been hiding all this time. we're all hanging on every word right now, brian, to figure out exactly what the source of

intelligence was that led special forces and cia operatives as we understand it to osama bin laden today. >> all right, jim miklaszewski at the pentagon where they'll have a busy night of briefings ahead of them. and we're being, at least initially waved off a drone strike as the cause of death here. certainly common sense would indicate, and one confirmation we're getting indicates that this is a special operations raid that has resulted in taking the life of osama bin laden. those just joining us, it's been a long nine years. what is it, seven months and 20 days, osama bin laden is dead. we will hear the official announcement from president obama within minutes, we're told, from the east room at the white house. our chief foreign correspondent richard engle standing by. richard, just for the -- for all of our edification, how close was the united states at tora

bora to getting the result that we're announcing tonight? >> the united states was incredibly close at tora bora. there was so much criticism that the united states didn't follow through. they knew where osama bin laden was, but they didn't have the forces to actually close in and capture him and they allowed him to escape. but that right now seems almost like ancient history. the question now is how did they kill osama bin laden? and you mentioned just a short while ago, was it drone strikes? done strikes have been taking place for a long time, and the cia has been managing them, and i think an organization we're going to hear a lot about in the coming days is jsoc the joint special operations command. it's almost like the military's fifth branch of the military, army, air force, navy, marines

and jsoc. and the global war on terrorism has created this organization as an incredibly powerful division of the u.s. military. so if the drone strikes took place, which are mostly organized by the cia, they likely wouldn't have the body. jsoc, which manages delta force, which manages the army rangers, the navy shields, they would be in a position to have people on the ground to carry out a close assault. to carry out a kill operation and recover the body. watch and listen for the words jsoc in the next few days. i think people are going to start recognizing incredibly difficult work they've been doing for a long time, often unrecognized, very difficult work. >> and more about that later, richard engle talking about the joint special operations command likely responsible for this news. now again we are told that we

are within a two-minute window until we hear an announcement from the president in the east room. there you see finally the picture of the podium, the long red carpet, the central transverse hallway that separates the state dining room at the far end of the white house from the east room where the camera is located. the president will likely emerge from one of the three rooms on the left hand side and will come out and address more than a national, but certainly a global television audience, as so many millions of americans. families are in touch with one another, saying, are you watching this on television? osama bin laden is dead. again, it's been nine years, seven months and 20 days since 9/11, the day when most americans began to hear the name, learn more about the man