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JIM LEHRER: What did you find out then or since about whether or not Osama bin Laden said anything to the American SEAL commandos?
LEON PANETTA: To be frank, I don't think he had a lot of time to say anything. It was a firefight going up that compound. And by the time they got to the third floor and found bin Laden, I think it - this was all split-second action on the part of the SEALs.
JIM LEHRER: Was Osama bin Laden armed? Was he shooting back at the SEALs?
LEON PANETTA: I don't believe so. But obviously, there were some firefights that were going on as these guys were making their way up the staircase in that compound. And when they got up there, there were some threatening moves that were made that clearly represented a clear threat to our guys. And that's the reason they fired.
JIM LEHRER: And they had orders to fire. In other words, it was clear - it was fine with the United States government that they went in and shot this guy, right?
LEON PANETTA: The authority here was to kill bin Laden. And obviously, under the rules of engagement, if he had in fact thrown up his hands, surrendered and didn't appear to be representing any kind of threat, then they were to capture him. But they had full authority to kill him.
JIM LEHRER: And but as far as you know, there was no communication - verbal communication - between Osama bin Laden and the American SEALs.
LEON PANETTA: Yeah, Jim, not that I'm aware of. But obviously, we're still getting the feedback from the SEALs themselves as to just exactly what took place during that mission. But as far as I know, there was no communication.
JIM LEHRER: What was the size of the American commando team? How many people actually went on the ground in that compound?
LEON PANETTA: There were 25 people that went on the ground. They were carried in two Blackhawk helicopters that went in. The approach was that those helicopters would go in. The first one would go over a courtyard in the compound. That group would rappel down to the ground and move into the compound - that the other helicopter would ultimately go over the roof of the compound and that a group would then rappel onto the roof of that compound.
What happened was that as the first helicopter had those problems and had to set down on the ground, the other helicopter made the decision not to go over the roof but to set down so that both helicopters sat on the ground and both teams immediately went into the compound itself. They had to breach about three or four walls in order to get in there. They were able to do that. And they immediately then went into the compound itself and fought their way up to the third floor.
JIM LEHRER: Now, there were a lot of rehearsals. These SEAL teams -- this SEAL team went through several rehearsals before doing this, right?
LEON PANETTA: Yes. You know, Jim, I think the thing that gave me a degree of confidence for all the risks and uncertainties that were involved in this mission, the thing that gave me the greatest sense of confidence was the fact that these teams conduct these kinds of operations two and three times a night in Afghanistan. They've got tremendous experience with how to do this and do it well. And so, you know, they moved in on the same basis moving against this compound that they do almost every night in Afghanistan. And I think that gave us all some sense of confidence that they knew exactly what they had to do and what problems they would face in the mission.
JIM LEHRER: Was there a temptation to not take that risk with troops and go ahead and just bomb the place with drones or something else?
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