An anonymous CIA analyst who refused promotion so he could continue to track down al-Qaida leaders was the brains behind the operation to kill Osama bin Laden.
Identified only as "John", his middle name, he is said to have been overcome with emotion when speaking to senators in a secret session about how he pulled together the information that led to the terrorist leader behind the September 11 atrocities.
He was standing just out of shot when the famous photograph was taken of President Barack Obama and his team watching the U.S. Navy Seals raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
The CIA is divided principally between operators - spies in the classic mould - and analysts, those who sift through the material the operators gather and usually spend their whole careers in the agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
The Associated Press, which reported the analyst's pivotal role, agreed to a CIA request not to reveal his identity for fear he could become a target.
He was the first to put in writing last summer the discovery that the CIA might have a real lead to bin Laden. He oversaw the team at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia that led the agency to bin Laden's fortified compound.
For nearly a decade, John's principal job was to find bin Laden. A former Russia and Balkans specialist, he wrote what was viewed as the definitive profile of Vladimir Putin before shifting his focus to al-Qaida.
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