Received phone call from Tom Donilon who stated that the President made a decision with regard to AC1 [Abbottabad Compound 1]. The decision is to proceed with the assault. The timing, operational decision making and control are in Admiral McRaven’s hands. The approval is provided on the risk profile presented to the President. Any additional risks are to be brought back to the President for his consideration. The direction is to go in and get bin Laden and if he is not there, to get out. Those instructions were conveyed to Admiral McRaven at approximately 10:45 am.

The memo that killed Osama Bin Laden.

[via Dan Foster]

Today in How Your Newsweekly Cover Sausage Gets Made [via]

This week’s cover, out on iPad now. Full coverage at The Daily Beast.

NWK’s Scott Hall: “What’s most interesting to me about this photo is what you’re not seeing. The mystery of what’s happening off camera is captured wholly in the expression on Hillary’s face. The events of 9/11 unfolded before our eyes, but those of 5/1 leave much to the imagination.”

cheatsheet:

Navy SEAL trainees bounce off the bottom of the tank to catch their breath during the Drown Proofing Test at the Combat Training Tank. The trainees have their feet and hands tied and once freed they swim to safety.

The SEALs: America’s quietest killers. This gallery is pretty amazing.

Tomorrow’s NYT. (via)

gillianmae:

Whoops. (via Nick Bilton)

Lordy.

From the archives: 

The Americans were getting close. It was early in the winter of 2004–05, and Osama bin Laden and his entourage were holed up in a mountain hideaway along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Suddenly, a sentry, posted several kilometers away, spotted a patrol of U.S. soldiers who seemed to be heading straight for bin Laden’s redoubt. The sentry radioed an alert, and word quickly passed among the Qaeda leader’s 40-odd bodyguards to prepare to remove “the Sheik,” as bin Laden is known to his followers, to a fallback position.

Read Newsweek’s “Into Thin Air” feature from September 03, 2007.

Outstanding Questions:

* Will Trump insist on seeing the long-form death certificate?

* Does this mean we can keep our shoes on at JFK?

* What about big-ass bottles of hair gel, can we take those?

WATCH OBAMA’S ADDRESS LIVE HERE

(Source: thedeadline)