CIA 'Live Tweets' Bin Laden Raid on 5 Year Anniversary

Tweets include helicopter landing, situation room photo and the positive ID.

ByABC News
May 1, 2016, 5:50 PM
The CIA posted this photo to Twitter on May 1, 2016 with the caption, "@POTUS watches situation on ground in Abbottabad live in Situation Room."
The CIA posted this photo to Twitter on May 1, 2016 with the caption, "@POTUS watches situation on ground in Abbottabad live in Situation Room."
@CIA/Twitter

— -- The CIA "live tweeted" the Osama Bin Laden raid this afternoon to mark the fifth anniversary of the May 1, 2011, operation that killed the al Qaeda leader.

The CIA twitter account said the step-by-step tweets would represent the raid at Bin Laden's Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound "as if it were happening today."

Here are some of the tweets posted today as the CIA recounted the helicopter landing, the famous situation room photo and the positive ID:

"The takedown of bin Laden stands as one of the great intelligence successes of all time. History has been a key element of CIA's social media efforts," CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani said. "On the fifth anniversary, it is appropriate to remember the day and honor all those who had a hand in this achievement."

He noted that the CIA has done postings to mark other historical events, including the Glomar operation, Argo, U-2 shootdown, and the evacuation of Saigon.