Ex-CIA agent talks about his time hunting for al-Qaida

May 04, 2011

the c-i-a chief tells nbc news that a photo of bin laden after he was shot and killed will be released... however, white house officials are still debating... whether the world should see the gruesome photo. they say it will clearly show bin laden was shot in the head -- and in the chest. tonight we talk to an ex c-i-a agent who spent years working as a bounty hunter -- looking for top al-queda operatives. he says they used to refer to bin laden as "elvis"-- because of all the rumored appearances and sightings. the former bounty hunter who now lives in albuquerque -- talked with our kayla anderson. she's live in the newsroom with the story - all new at six. art keller is a retired c-i-a agent. in 2006 he was rooted at a base deep inside the al-queda territory of pakistan ... chasing the ghosts of the most wanted terrorists. this is propaganda video from pakistan.... used to encourage citizens to join the taliban. amid the danger-- art keller was there. his mission: to find and take down al-queda. "it was, in some ways it was a lot more like going to prison than anything else. you were confined to a base. the pakistanis that you were allegedly working with wouldn't let you go out." in 2006 keller was one of an estimated 50 to 100 agents living in secret in pakistan. keller showed us these pictures of his living quarrs. "for a long time, the trails seemed to be very cold." now retired... keller learned bin laden was dead the moment the news hit the internet. "it's vindication for the people who are currently doing the work, the people like me who used to do the work, for really decades of effort and a lot of sacrifice behind the scenes." keller says he's not surprised to learn the mission to kill bin laden was four years in the making .... comparing it to a slow chess game. "this guy is one of the wiliest guys in the world. he knows what the signatures that we're watching for are. and so the things that we used to track him ten years ago, you know the big convoys filled with bodyguards, he wasn't doing that anymore." but ultimately keller says a bin laden source made a mistake-- and the terrorist's tight knit network began to unravel. keller says if al-queda acts in haste and rushes an attack in vengeance... he expects the group will make another mistake somewhere along the lines... which will help the u-s intercept and stop the threat.