Well that's what I mean. Does Mossad have a more current image of Imad that hey keep it under lock and key? What about spy planes and satellites? I mean if Israel can verify Imad attended the terror meetings in January and in April of 2006 they either know what he currently looks like because they waited and tracked him or perhaps his attendance was reported to Mossad after the fact. I guess it could be after the fact.
I'd be willing to bet that every major Western intelligence service has more data on top global terrorists than what they make public. But if I knew that for a fact, I wouldn't be posting here. Even local police departments usually have more information on potential suspects or specific details of a crime than what they release to the press.
That article Ian posted today with Hamid Mir predicting Ramadan attacks has an after-the-fact claim that UBL and Mullah Omar met a few weeks ago. So you are correct in saying that most of the time these stories (true or not) dribble out after the fact. It doesn't matter at that point. The Taliban leaders were probably not invited to be part of UBL's private meetings with Mullah Omar (if this happened)nor would they have details of planned operations, and weeks later they are both long gone so who cares if one of the Taliban runs their mouth after-the-fact? Same goes for the Damascus "terror summit".
They probably gave him permission to talk to Mir so they could brag about their secret meeting and planned upcoming attacks. They are very media savvy. "All the world's a stage."
Unlike Washington DC, al Qaeda and the Taliban do not seem to have a big problem with leakers. Probably because the kids out back will be playing soccer with the leaker's head the next day if one of them were to talk to a newsie without permission.