Five years after the raid that killed al Qaeda founder and 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden, US President Barack Obama and key members of his inner circle have spoken out about the mission.
For the first time ever, President Obama sat down with CNN's Peter Bergen in the high security Situation Room, called the John F. Kennedy Conference Room.
It was in this room, on April 28, 2011, that Obama sat to hear for the final time from top members of his cabinet and staff on whether the US should go ahead with the risky operation. The decision was not unanimous, Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Robert Gates had urged caution.
President Obama walked Bergen through the process by which he decided to authorise the raid which ultimately led to Laden being gunned down inside his residence in Pakistan's Abbottabad.
The president explained that multiple risks were involved, from Navy SEALs getting captured to Bin Laden not even being there at the Abbottabad compound. "The odds that Osama was there was probably about 50:50," Obama told Bergen.
On the afternoon of May 1, 2011, the mission began to unfold. On the screen was the then CIA Director Leon Panetta providing updates from his office at headquarters in Langley.
Panetta was watching live video streams and getting updated himself from Afghanistan by Adm. William McRaven, who was running the Special Operations mission.
When President Obama entered the Situation Room to watch the raid, one of the specially equipped Black Hawk helicopters hit the ground.
On this turn of events in the operation, Obama said, "I was thinking that this is not an ideal start."
After the raid ended, the President went to work on his statement to the nation in the Oval Office. When the statement was ready, he walked down the Colonnade - the outdoor walkway between the West Wing where his office is located and the East Wing, which is where the residence is.
Then as a crowd assembled along the north side excitedly chanting "USA", he delivered his statement from the East Room of the White House.
"Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children," he said that night.
CNN shot the interview at four locations in the White House- The Situation Room, The Small Conference Room, The Colonnade and the Cross Hall - each with significance to the bin Laden mission.
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