STRATFOR: Osama Bin Laden Routinely in Contact With Top Pakistani Intelligence Officials

According to e-mails leaked by online whistleblower site Wikileaks, Osama bin Laden maintained contact with top officials from Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency while at his compound in the eastern garrison town of Abbotabad.

The fugitive Saudi millionaire and al Qadea leader and his associates were killed in a surprise nighttime raid by US Navy SEALS in May 2011.

According to one of the e-mails, the firm was shown the information papers collected from bin Laden's Abbotabad compound after the US special forces attack last May that resulted in his death.

The e-mail, from a Stratfor analyst, suggested that up to 12 officials in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency knew of the al-Qaeda leader's safe house.

The internal email did not name the Pakistani officials involved but said the US could use the information as a bargaining chip in post raid negotiations with Islamabad.

"Mid to senior level ISI and Pak Mil with one retired Pak Mil General that had knowledge of the OBL arrangements and safehouse," the email said of the officers involved. "I get a very clear sense we (US intel) know names and ranks."

Although many military and intelligence analysts expressed doubt that Bin Laden could be hiding less than a kilometer away from the front gate of the Pakistani Military Academy without the government, military or ISI knowing about it, Pakistan has denied knowing of Bin Laden's whereabouts prior to the American raid.

Founded in 1996, STRATFOR- short for Strategic Forecasting, Inc- is a San Antonio, TX based think tank and security firm that provides detailed threat assessment and frequent intelligence briefings to individual and corporate subscribers [full disclosure- while not a subscriber myself, STRATFOR provided some of the details regarding Mexican organized crime and the ATF's Operation Fast & Furious in earlier Borderline Psychosis updates on this blog- NANESB!].

The STRATFOR correspondence was obtained from by hackers known as Anonymous in late 2011 and posted on WikiLeaks earlier this week. WikiLeaks founder and Kremlin mouthpiece Julian Assange has accused STRATFOR of being involved in a number of legally and ethically questionable intelligence gathering activities on behalf of corporations.