This is Jocco podcast number 290 with Echo Charles and me, Jocco Willink. Good evening, Echo. Good evening.

Within 24 hours, I'd ordered the special operations units to assemble in North Carolina.

On the seal side, all were senior enlisted from the same seal squadron. All were hand picked by the seal commander.

All had extensive combat experience.

The aviation crews were equally experienced and also hand picked.

But none of them knew why they were being asked to come to North Carolina on such short notice.

The following day, as we ushered the members of the raid team into the conference room at our North Carolina location,

I could see a look of annoyance on their faces.

By this time, I had briefed my boss, Admiral Eric Olson, on the bin Laden mission. Olson, along with the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, Mike Vickers and several CIA senior officers, were also present in the conference room.

The operator's body language was unmistakable.

Clearly, they thought they had been dragged out of Virginia Beach in Fort Campbell to participate in some kind of no-notice exercise just to impress the brass.

I offered some short welcoming remarks and then turned over the briefing to a CIA officer.

He began by handing out non-disclosure forms.

I watched with some amusement as the body language began to change.

Rarely, were non-disclosure forms required for exercises, even sensitive ones.

It took a few minutes before the forms were signed and collected.

Then another CIA official stepped up on the small stage and began to brief the target.

The operators shifted in their chairs, sitting up to focus on the slides on the screen.

The CIA officer began.

Gentlemen, for the past several months, the CIA has been tracking an individual we call the PASER.

Embedded in the slide was a link. The CIA officer clicked on the link and a video played on the screen.

Everyone watched as the PASER moved around the compound at AC1.

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