there were a controversial or mistaken strike". National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice concluded that the armed Predator was required, but evidently not ready. It was agreed to recommend to the CIA to resume reconnaissance flights. The "previously reluctant" Tenet then ordered the Agency to do so. The CIA was now "authorized to deploy the system with weapons-capable aircraft, but for reconnaissance missions only", since the host nation (presumably Uzbekistan) "had not agreed to allow flights by weapons-carrying aircraft". Subsequent to 9/11, approval was quickly granted to ship the missiles, and the Predator aircraft and missiles reached their overseas location on September 16, 2001. The first mission was flown over Kabul and [Kandahar] on September 18 without carrying weapons. Subsequent host nation approval was granted on October 7 and the first armed mission was flown on the same day. After 9/11 Shortly after 9/11, Michael Scheuer came back to the Station as special adviser. He stayed until 2004. After the September 11 attacks, staff numbers at the Station were expanded into the hundreds. Scheuer claimed the expansion was a "shell game" played with temporary (and inexperienced) staff, and that the core personnel "remained at under 30, the size it was when Scheuer left office in 1999". (As we have seen, professional staff numbers grew to 40 to 50 by the eve of 9/11.) After 9/11, "Hendrik V.", and later "Marty M.", were chiefs of Alec Station's Bin Laden Unit. The Bin Laden Station was disbanded in late 2005. Bin Laden was eventually located in Abbottabad, Pakistan and killed by the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group, commonly known as SEAL Team 6 in Operation Neptune Spear on May 2, 2011. See also MQ-1 Predator Location of Osama bin Laden References Further reading Steve Coll, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, From the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, Penguin, 2005. (This is an updated version of the original, Penguin, 2004.) 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, July 2004 A Review of the FBI's Handling of Intelligence Information Related to the September 11 Attacks: Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Special Report, November 2004, Released Publicly June 2006 Jack Cloonan interview, PBS, July 13, 2005 Michael Scheuer interview, PBS, July 21, 2005 Bin Laden Trail 'Stone Cold' The Washington Post September 10, 2006