No Such Podcast

How We Found Bin Laden: The Basics of Foreign Signals Intelligence

Osama bin Laden helped plan the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 which killed nearly 3,000 Americans. To find him, the U.S. government had to put its best people on the job. Along with their counterparts across multiple agencies, experts at the National Security Agency answered the call. NSA generated foreign signals intelligence to help find, and ultimately eliminate, the terrorist leader. In the lead episode of No Such Podcast, learn how NSA helped find bin Laden through foreign signals intelligence (SIGINT), one of the Agency’s two core missions. NSA leaders demystify the foreign SIGINT cycle and how each step applied to the Osama bin Laden case. Learn from a counterterrorism expert who was in the room when the word came in that Osama bin Laden was Killed In Action. NSA’s foreign signals intelligence has informed United States policymakers for over seven decades. Learn more at NSA.gov. Find the show transcript and other episodes at NSA.gov/podcast. Discover job opportunities at NSA.gov/careers.

No Such Podcast pulls back the curtain on the National Security Agency. NSA’s very existence used to be classified, leading to its nickname, “No Such Agency.” Now, we’ve got stories to tell, and they just might surprise you! Hear from everyone at NSA, from senior leaders down to new hires, talk about what it’s really like to work at one of the most secretive agencies in the government.