[throwaway10001]

AP - The Official NSA Public Relations Organization

Yeah, Al Qaeda didn't know that NSA listens and reads to their communications. That's why Bin Laden used couriers to personally deliver thumbdrives and had no telephone or internet.

[zwegner]

It's amazing that the AP would so eagerly accept these anonymous government officials' stories after they were specifically targeted by the FBI, what was it, a month ago?

Why grant these people anonymity, when all they're doing is spouting out government-serving platitudes with zero evidence or justification for keeping their identities secret?

[codex]

True, but it would likely be impractical to use couriers to communicate between Al Qaeda H.Q. to any Al Qaeda cells in the U.S., or even in an adjacent country.

[throwaway10001]

But Snowden offered them nothing new, so they must trying to avoid detection as much as they can.