But the final clue was the clotheslines on the compound, which flapped each day with women’s garments, shalwar kameez worn by Pakistani men, children’s outfits and diapers — far more than the 11 members of the bodyguards’ families could ever wear.

The invisible inhabitants, according to the agents’ laundry calculations, had to include an adult man, several adult women, and at least nine children, a perfect fit for the polygamous patriarch they were seeking.

After more than nine years in hiding, Osama bin Laden was betrayed by his family’s laundry.

That was enough for Panetta. On Dec. 14, 2010, he presented the CIA’s evidence to then-President Barack Obama.

Agents never managed to capture a clearly identifiable image of bin Laden to prove they had finally uncovered his hiding place. But "they also never found evidence that undercut the notion that he was living there," Bergen writes.

Obama was convinced. He ordered the Navy to begin planning the operation that would ultimately, on May 1, 2011, snuff out the terror master at age 54 — a decision that might never have been made if bin Laden had thought to give his wives a clothes dryer.