A Pakistani soldier stands near a compound where Osama bin Laden lived in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

A Pakistani soldier stands near a compound where Osama bin Laden lived in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Anjum Naveed/AP file photo

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The CIA agent who found bin Laden is having trouble at work

According to sources, the agent is not popular at work.

Adam Clark Estes,
The Wire

|
The Wire

If you're not already aware of the bull-headed CIA agent whose persistent pressure to track Al Qaeda couriers helped lead the way to Osama bin Laden's compound, you're about to be. The main character of Zero Dark Thirty, the controversial soon-to-be released Oscar bait that portrays the story of the bin Laden raid "is based on a real person" whose identity remains classified as she's still working for the CIA. But things at Langley haven't been going so well for said secret, soon-to-be-an-anonymous-celebrity spy. In fact, according to a new Washington Post report, things sound like they're going pretty poorly. She's been passed over for a promotion, pissed off all her coworkers, and sounds generally unpopular.

The scenario sounds like a plot line from Homeland. (Actually, it sounds like the plot line fromHomeland, but that's a whole other controversy.) The anonymous agent, a woman in her mid-30s, got her start as a "targeter," someone who recruits spies or identifies targets for drone strikes. She's known for being uniquely dedicated to her work, the type that stands up for an idea before anyone else is even giving it consideration. Such was the idea to hawk Bin Laden's couriers, and one of her follow officers told The Post that she "was one of the people from very early on pushing this." If you watch the trailer for Zero Dark Thirty, you'll catch a mention of this point. A Navy SEAL asks his teammate why he believes the story behind their next mission, a mission to kill Osama bin Laden, and the teammate answers, "Her confidence," pointing to the character based on this CIA agent.

Read the entire story at Atlantic Wire.

NEXT STORY: Analysis: Why not push the Pentagon off the fiscal cliff?

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