Pentagon declassifies Styrofoam model of bin Laden compound, at last

A styrofoam-and-acrylic model of Osama bin Laden's compound that was used to plan the May 2011 raid that killed the al Qaeda leader has been declassified by the Pentagon.

CNN reports that the model of OBL's building and surrounding farmland in Abbotabad, Pakistan was built over a six-week period, and then was taken to the White House to brief President Obama on plans. After the raid, it sat on display in the lobby of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency in Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Until last week, the model was considered classified and only those working or visiting the building could see it.
Now it is declassified, and agency officials wanted to bring it over to the Pentagon for a brief time to show it off to Department of Defense "customers" to highlight what the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency can do for them, according to an agency information sheet.
The to-scale diorama helped the Navy Seals literally measure the steps it would take to get to bin Laden.

More photos and background here: The very model of a successful bin Laden raid

(CNN.com, via Kristie LuStout).

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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The Snowden Principle

http://www.facebook.com/aluked Everson Bernardes

Totes not the place he’s at.
http://profile.yahoo.com/USUDMW4N5ELOON4MD5LSFM24MA Chass

-WHAT IS THIS… A CENTER FOR ANTS??

HOW CAN WE CAPTURE THE LEADER OF AL-QAEDA IF WE CANT EVEN FIT INSIDE THE BUILDING! IT NEEDS TO BE AT LEAST … 3 TIMES BIGGER

-It’s just a model…

-No, He’s right.
Brainspore

*Dolls sold separately.
- pjcamp
  
  Seriously? There’s an action figure of George “I just don’t think that much about him” Bush capturing Osama?
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    He does all kinds of surprising things.
  - Brainspore
    
    Many details of the actual operation are still classified. Maybe W. was the one who fucked up that stealth helicopter.
dbc249

I have a new construction project in Minecraft…
- http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
  
  Not enough right angles for that.
BarBarSeven

Nobody is answering the question a true geek would ask: WHAT IS THE SCALE OF THIS THING? 1:18?
http://www.facebook.com/gregbunsmills Greg Buns Mills

Lady Elaine is not pleased.
mccrum

The government has some really good model builders. Those skylights, sun shades on the windows, and the concertina wire are all really nice touches.
- Brainspore
  
  I just like the mental image of a bunch of stone-faced, besuited G-men perusing the dollhouse section at a local arts & crafts store.
Owen Thaxton

holy cow, v kawaii
http://www.soulrecycler.com/ Patter Light Grey

ppppppppropaganda!
I guess this is an attempt to further solidify
their faux story peddled to paid for media.
Keystone

Why not build the compound as an XBox 360 game level to help the Seals prepare? Probably more immersive, photorealistic and life-like.
- http://twitter.com/BongBong BongBong
  
  And not at all an aggression against the sovereign rights of Pakistan.
- BarBarSeven
  
  Because mall cops do not do work like this. Real soldiers do.
Eark_the_Bunny

Too bad no one figured that the courtyard was not a proper place to land a helicopter or at least not if you want to take off again. It was a major flaw in the plan but they got the bastard anyway. Good work by the Navy Seals and those supporting them!
- http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
  
  My guess is that they didn’t have any helicopter experts on the team which planned the attack.
pjcamp

Every time I see this place I’m amazed at what a shitbag it is. The world’s richest terrorist was living in a no-tell motel?
- http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith
  
  Needed to keep his head down I suppose.
http://vincenzoravina.tumblr.com/ Vincenzo Ravina

Please excuse the crudity of this model.
http://profiles.google.com/westcarleton Ray Perkins

A physical model is so 1980! Folks have made a Google Sketchup model – go here (for example) and you can view it in Google Earth…
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=6767dc860b67271867cd779dd7c916d4
http://tomcat.pip.verisignlabs.com/ Tommy

I’m waiting for the Lego model.
DevinC

If the compound was just made of styrofoam, why didn’t they just mount a giant paint stripper on a helicopter and melt the whole thing? WTF, Navy SEALS?

Edit: Oh wait, yeah. The extension cord. Duh.
http://www.facebook.com/timdlittle Timothy D Little

It’s called a “sand table” in the Infantry. It’s a common way to plan out missions and work out any sort of issues that might come up.