Obama Releases Bin Laden Documents on Last Day

In its last day running the country, the Obama administration has released a final batch of documents once belonging to Osama bin Laden, the AP reports. The 49 documents made public Thursday were part of the hundreds taken during the 2011 raid that led to bin Laden's death. Intelligence officials have been working for years to declassify them. Despite multiple releases over the past two years, there are believed to be between 100 and 200 documents still classified, according to CNN. It will be up to the Trump administration whether to release them.

The 49 documents released Thursday include letters to and from bin Laden, his mother, and his deputies. They include instructions to multiple sons about how to travel safely and without being detected by enemies, including the CIA, and a rare letter from one of his daughters, who discusses her multiple ailments. The documents show bin Laden arguing with an al-Qaeda splinter group that would become ISIS, whose methods he found "brutal and violent," the Mirror reports. They also include memos about al-Qaeda "best practices," complaint boxes, monthly revenues, and an "oversight committee." (More Osama bin Laden stories.)