U.S. officials seize bin Laden hard drives and data, hit “mother lode”

"Can you imagine what's on Osama bin Laden's hard drive?"

That's the question a U.S. official posed to Politico recently in an article that revealed the government is now in possession of the deceased terrorist leader's computers.

The Navy SEALs who infiltrated bin Laden's compound Sunday, killing him and several others, also confiscated computer drives and disks that the U.S. official said was "the mother lode of intelligence." The contents of those machines are currently being torn apart at a secret location in Afghanistan.

"It's going to be great even if only 10 percent of it is actionable," the official told Politico.

The Politico piece also includes some additional details on the raid, including the fact that bin Laden was on the third floor sleeping when the SEALs arrived, the mission took 38 minutes, and the SEALs were required to blow up a malfunctioning helicopter before leaving the premises.

Despite the collection of computer equipment, it was reported earlier this week that the lack of an Internet or phone connection at the $1 million compound was actually something that tipped off investigators.

"It's also noteworthy that the property is valued at approximately $1 million but has no telephone or Internet service connected to it. The brothers had no explainable source of wealth," a senior administration offical told reporters during a Monday press briefing.

The brothers in question reportedly owned the compound and were a trusted bin Laden courier and his sibling. The White House said intelligence officials became aware of this courier four years ago thanks to information provided by detainees, but only uncovered his location in August 2010.

This article, written by Chloe Albanesius, originally appeared on PCMag.com and is republished on Gear Live with the permission of Ziff Davis, Inc.