October 31, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://news.yahoo.com/popemobile-gets-top-prize-obamas-white-house-halloween-224744308.html#

Popemobile Gets Top Prize at Obama’s White House Halloween – 28 Photographs
October 30, 2015

"Decoration of the Obama family dogs, Sunny and Bo, are displayed as part of Halloween festivities on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 30, 2015. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will welcome local children and children of military families to 'trick-or-treat' at the White House for Halloween. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)"


See the website above for the remaining 27 photographs. They're entertaining and informational.

The personal lives of powerful people have always fascinated me. I’m interested in how they think when not on the job. This series of photographic shots and their explanations are not earth-shaking, but they are heart-warming, and do add some information. The greatest experience I’ve had with a celebrity is the letter I have in my collection of important papers from none other than QEII. I wrote her at her website last year about my longtime interest in England and my visit there in 1987, and her secretary wrote me back, saying that she found my letter very interesting. She’s one of those celebrities who have a noticeably “human” side rather than merely worldwide fame and a huge personal fortune.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/teen-surprises-mom-and-toddler-with-good-deed-at-target/

Teen surprises mom and toddler with good deed at Target
By JENNIFER EARL CBS NEWS
October 27, 2015

Photograph -- screen-shot-2015-10-27-at-1-06-21-pm.png -- The doll that was given to 2-year-old Kinley. MEGAN SHUFFLEBARGER/FACEBOOK


A mother of three, Megan Shufflebarger isn't new to the "oohing" and "ahhing" heard by her children as they walk down a toy aisle.

When her youngest daughter Kinley scanned the Target shelves ahead of her birthday, she listened to her stocked birthday list -- and apparently, she wasn't the only one.

The 2-year-old stood in front of a row of dolls, she stopped and stared at the last blonde one on the shelf. Before the question "can I?" could leave her mouth, a young man walked over and knelt down next to her.

He asked which one was her favorite. She pointed, "I really lub dis one." The teen chuckled and walked off with the doll.

Disappointed that her doll of choice was now out of sight, she turned to ask her mom where the "dolly" was. Her mother assured her there would be more.

A few minutes later, the young stranger returned to the aisle with the doll.

He took it out of a bag, handed Kinley's mom a receipt and told the little girl to "have a very happy birthday."

"I was speechless," Shufflebarger told CBS News.

She thanked him for his kindness. He nodded, smiled and walked off.

Shufflebarger repeated the story for her hundreds of friends on Facebook, sharing a photo of the young man posing with Kinley, who had a "sweet little shocked smile" on her face.

She hoped someone in the Lafayette, Indiana-area would recognize him so she could give him a proper "thank you."

newer.jpg, Tario Fuller II poses with Kinley and her new doll in an Indiana Target. FACEBOOK/MEGAN SHUFFLEBARGER. After more than 55,000 shares, someone tagged the little girl's hero in the post: Tario Fuller II, a freshman football player for Purdue University.

"We couldn't be more proud of the type of young men and women in our athletics department," Purdue Athletics shared the post on its Facebook page.

The mom told Fuller she was grateful to him for showing her -- and the world -- that "hope is in fact not lost in society as a whole."

"This one act of kindness has likely generated thousands of smiles, softened many hearts and inspired others," she said. "That in and of itself makes my heart full and happy."

Kinley's happy, too.

The soon-to-be 3-year-old, who is never seen without a doll in her arms, may even replace her recent favorite, an Ikea doll named "baby boy," with Fuller's gift.

"Maybe this will inspire and humble others to pay it forward more often," Shufflebarger hopes.




“After more than 55,000 shares, someone tagged the little girl's hero in the post: Tario Fuller II, a freshman football player for Purdue University. "We couldn't be more proud of the type of young men and women in our athletics department," Purdue Athletics shared the post on its Facebook page. The mom told Fuller she was grateful to him for showing her -- and the world -- that "hope is in fact not lost in society as a whole." "This one act of kindness has likely generated thousands of smiles, softened many hearts and inspired others," she said. "That in and of itself makes my heart full and happy."

I am impressed when someone does a very generous thing for no reason but to sow a little goodness in the world. Enough people like this, and those who are more or less vicious or greedy will pale into the background. If you have gone to the website to check out his picture you will see that he is a black youth. The common myth about black young people is that they are dangerous, rather than helpful, but this young man is certainly not in that negative group. I don’t know whether he came from a Middle Class family or from a poor one, but he is choosing to act as an individual and follow the right path. I hope he gets some kind of award for this.







AMERICAN RAILROADS -- TWO ARTICLES

http://www.npr.org/2015/10/23/450833762/few-railroads-on-track-to-meet-end-of-year-safety-deadline

Few Railroads On Track To Meet End-Of-Year Safety Deadline
Jeff Brady
October 23, 2015


Photograph -- The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority tests its Positive Train Control system at the agency's rail yard near Malvern, Pa. The system will cost SEPTA about $328 million. The regional passenger railroad is one of the few in the country that are on track to meet an end-of-the-year deadline for installing PTC. Jeff Brady/NPR


Railroads warn they may have to shut down unless Congress extends an end-of-the-year deadline to install new safety equipment called Positive Train Control.

PTC is a complex system that monitors a train's location and speed, then automatically slows down or stops a locomotive if the engineer doesn't respond to a danger warning.

Congress required passenger and freight railroads to install PTC in 2008, after a Metrolink passenger train collided with a freight train in Los Angeles, killing 25 people. It also would have slowed down the fast-moving Amtrak train that derailed earlier this year in Philadelphia, killing eight.

The 2008 Rail Safety Improvement Act set a deadline of Dec. 31, 2015, for railroads to implement PTC systems — or face big fines. Metrolink is among the few railroads expected to meet the deadline, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Other passenger railroads on track to finish by the end of the year include Caltrain, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, known as SEPTA, and TriMet in Oregon.

SEPTA locomotive engineer Steve Finnegan remains in control of a train using PTC. But if SEPTA reduces speed on a certain set of track or sends an order for the train to stop and he fails to comply, PTC will do it automatically.i

SEPTA locomotive engineer Steve Finnegan remains in control of a train using PTC. But if SEPTA reduces speed on a certain set of track or sends an order for the train to stop and he fails to comply, PTC will do it automatically.
Jeff Brady/NPR

Amtrak expects to have PTC installed by the deadline along the Northeast Corridor — between Washington, D.C., and Boston — and on its line between New York and Harrisburg, Pa.

The mandate is most expensive for freight railroads, which have tens of thousands of miles of track to include in their PTC systems.

"We are committed to getting this job completed," says Edward Hamberger, president and CEO of the Association of American Railroads. By the end of 2015, Hamberger says, freight lines will have spent $6 billion on PTC systems and will spend $4 billion more to complete installation.

"It's like having a home halfway built: You want to finish it; you want to move in," he says. But railroads need more time to finish the job, he adds.

As the deadline approaches, railroads plan to shut down instead of paying those fines. "There will be a transportation crisis in this country with severe economic consequences," warns Michael Melaniphy, president and CEO of the American Public Transportation Association.

During a recent conference call with reporters, Melaniphy and Hamberger painted a dramatic picture of commuters and trucks clogging the nation's roads because trains won't run. They want lawmakers to extend the deadline for up to five years.

Melaniphy says if there's going to be an extension, it needs to be made before the end of October because railroads need about eight weeks for "an orderly shutdown, including public notification to customers and labor unions."

The Senate already has passed a bill extending the deadline and there are indications House leaders are prepared to do the same.

Despite Congress mandating all railroads be equipped with a Positive Train Control system by the end of the year, Chicago's Metra system isn't expected to reach that goal until 2019. Most commuter trains won't meet the deadline.
U.S.

The situation raises a question: Why are some railroads able to meet the deadline when others aren't? The answer is that while the 2008 law requires the same thing of railroads, each line has different circumstances.

"You cannot purchase PTC systems off the shelf at Best Buy," Melaniphy says.

Some railroads had trouble even securing the radio frequency that allows all the parts of the PTC system to communicate. And then there are inevitable bugs to work out.

SEPTA General Manager Jeffrey Knueppel says several things came together to help his agency meet the deadline. He says SEPTA is spending $328 million on its system.

Until recently, that would have been the bulk of the agency's capital budget. But two years ago, Pennsylvania raised gas taxes to boost funding for transportation infrastructure. That helped alleviate the cost problem for SEPTA.

"We had a good set of circumstances, a good plan, a good contractor and we retained our people," says Knueppel, referring to the fact that as railroads are working now to meet the PTC deadline, a generation of experienced workers across the industry is reaching retirement age.

Knueppel says he's not surprised that an extension is needed. Even with good planning, funding and some luck, he says meeting the end-of-the-year deadline will be a photo finish for SEPTA.



http://www.progressiverailroading.com/federal_legislation_regulation/news/House-passes-PTC-deadline-extension-shortterm-transportation-funding-bill--46270

Rail News: Federal Legislation & Regulation: House passes PTC deadline extension, short-term transportation funding bill
10/28/2015


The House of Representatives yesterday approved a three-week extension of surface transportation funding and a three-year extension of the deadline for railroads to implement positive train control (PTC) technology.

The Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2015 (H.R. 3819) would extend the authorization for federal highway and transit programs through Nov. 20, and would prevent a shutdown of the U.S. rail system by extending the PTC deadline though 2018. The current PTC deadline is Dec. 31. Existing legislation that authorizes transportation funding expires Thursday.

The measure was introduced and passed last week by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The bill will ensure that states can continue to pay for transportation projects while Congress continues to debate on a longer term bill, said T&I Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) in a press release.

"H.R. 3819 also recognizes that failing to extend the positive train control deadline now will have devastating economic impacts," he added. "Not only will railroads stop shipping important chemicals critical to manufacturing, agriculture, clean drinking water, and other industrial activities, but passenger and commuter rail transportation will virtually screech to a halt."

Most railroads have said they will not be able to meet current PTC deadline. As a result, many have also said they will have to cease operations after Jan. 1 in locations where they do not yet have PTC systems installed. The Federal Railroad Administration has said it will enforce the Dec. 31 deadline, which was set by Congress in 2008.

"A PTC-related rail shutdown would pull $30 billion out of the economy in the first quarter and lead to 700,000 jobs lost in just one month," Shuster said. "It's our responsibility to extend this deadline now, and avoid shutting down much of our rail system."




npr.org -- “Railroads warn they may have to shut down unless Congress extends an end-of-the-year deadline to install new safety equipment called Positive Train Control. PTC is a complex system that monitors a train's location and speed, then automatically slows down or stops a locomotive if the engineer doesn't respond to a danger warning. …. The 2008 Rail Safety Improvement Act set a deadline of Dec. 31, 2015, for railroads to implement PTC systems — or face big fines. Metrolink is among the few railroads expected to meet the deadline, according to a Government Accountability Office report. …. Amtrak expects to have PTC installed by the deadline along the Northeast Corridor — between Washington, D.C., and Boston — and on its line between New York and Harrisburg, Pa. The mandate is most expensive for freight railroads, which have tens of thousands of miles of track to include in their PTC systems. …. "There will be a transportation crisis in this country with severe economic consequences," warns Michael Melaniphy, president and CEO of the American Public Transportation Association. …. They want lawmakers to extend the deadline for up to five years. Melaniphy says if there's going to be an extension, it needs to be made before the end of October because railroads need about eight weeks for "an orderly shutdown, including public notification to customers and labor unions." …. The answer is that while the 2008 law requires the same thing of railroads, each line has different circumstances. "You cannot purchase PTC systems off the shelf at Best Buy," Melaniphy says. Some railroads had trouble even securing the radio frequency that allows all the parts of the PTC system to communicate. And then there are inevitable bugs to work out. …. But two years ago, Pennsylvania raised gas taxes to boost funding for transportation infrastructure. That helped alleviate the cost problem for SEPTA. "We had a good set of circumstances, a good plan, a good contractor and we retained our people," says Knueppel, referring to the fact that as railroads are working now to meet the PTC deadline, a generation of experienced workers across the industry is reaching retirement age.


Progressiverailroading --
The House of Representatives yesterday approved a three-week extension of surface transportation funding and a three-year extension of the deadline for railroads to implement positive train control (PTC) technology. The Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2015 (H.R. 3819) would extend the authorization for federal highway and transit programs through Nov. 20, and would prevent a shutdown of the U.S. rail system by extending the PTC deadline through 2018. …. . "Not only will railroads stop shipping important chemicals critical to manufacturing, agriculture, clean drinking water, and other industrial activities, but passenger and commuter rail transportation will virtually screech to a halt." …. "A PTC-related rail shutdown would pull $30 billion out of the economy in the first quarter and lead to 700,000 jobs lost in just one month," Shuster said. "It's our responsibility to extend this deadline now, and avoid shutting down much of our rail system."


SEPTA managed to pay for its PTA costs by raising gas taxes two years ago. I wonder if those who are very far behind have been controlled by Republicans and unwilling to raise taxes for any reason. Sometimes we have to raise taxes. As a society if we don’t do some expensive but highly advantageous or necessary things, we will fall behind economically and our daily lives will be unpleasant at the very least. I wouldn't like to go back to riding buses, for instance.

The article states that if there were a complete stoppage of train service that would cause a $30,000 drop in our economy in the first quarter alone and necessitate the loss of 700,000 jobs, i.e. Black Friday 1929. That’s the result of not making some much needed infrastructure changes. The Dems have been agitating for road and bridge repair for years now, but the "conservatives" put up barriers, except for their own local "pork barrel" projects, of course.

All nations depend on communication and transportation to keep up their internal trade and commercial activities. One of the articles above stated that massive traffic jams would occur, as everyone would revert to automobiles and transfer trucks to solve their problems. Some businesses would very likely go bankrupt, and people who use a commuter train to go back and forth from work would have to give up their jobs or move. There would, at the least, be much social disruption unless everyone can afford plane fare.

The October 28th article above states that the House has already passed a deadline extension to the law, but the Senate is still deliberating. For goodness sake, this is not a time to play politics. The extension must be passed through both houses by the end of the day. I wonder if they will argue all day and all night, and then rush it through at midnight as they usually do.





http://www.cbsnews.com/media/audacious-solutions-for-protecting-against-the-next-hurricane-sandy/

Audacious solutions for protecting against the next Hurricane Sandy
BRIAN MASTROIANNI CBS NEWS
October 30, 2015

104 PHOTOS -- Sandy: Before and after -- GOTO the website for photographs, as some of these suggestions are a little odd or hard to understand. Likewise, go to Google for more articles on the several methods given in this article. It gives me hope that Homeland Security and others have been working on the problems of Global Warming, even if they don't "believe" in it. Though they are highly political and given to a practical-minded lie or two, they are apparently sane.



A roller coaster is seen in the ocean in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in Seaside Heights, New Jersey November 11, 2012. REUTERS/ERIC THAYER.

Three years ago, Superstorm Sandy ravaged seaside communities along the East Coast.

New York City's metropolitan area was severely impacted due to flooding damage done to its tunnels and subway system. Along the coast, storm surges were 14 feet above the average low tide. Sandy led to 48 deaths in New York alone, according to statistics from the National Hurricane Center.

The threat posed by increased flooding from future Sandys is very real due to the effects of climate change. New York could experience 6 more feet in sea level rise by 2100, which could potentially submerge more than 90 square miles of the city under water, according to a 2015 report published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Major storms that once might have occurred every 500 years could soon happen every 25 years or so on the Atlantic coast.

In the face of rising sea levels and increased frequency of major storms, architects, scientists, and politicians are turning to creative protection solutions. Big waves call for big ideas.

"You can't just build on the risks we know about today, but also consider the risks that you can face over a lifetime and risks that extend farther out into the future," Joel Smith, an expert on climate change and a principal with Abt Associates, a consulting firm that aims to address social and environmental issues, told CBS News.

"It's about weighing the risk that you face, which you know about the likelihoods and outcomes, against the cost and feasibility of what you are trying to achieve."

Click through to see some of the most ambitious, promising projects for keeping future Sandys at bay.

The Big “U”

Photograph -- The Big "U" is a proposed 8-mile-long wall that would wrap around southern Manhattan, New York. REBUILD BY DESIGN/BIGU

Following Hurricane Sandy, Henk Ovink, the former director general of water planning in the Netherlands, joined the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, which was part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Through the task force, Ovink started "Rebuild by Design," a 2013 competition that sought out the most innovative solutions for rebuilding and fortifying the New York and New Jersey coasts.

Six winning proposals were chosen out of 148 submissions and one of the most striking was The Big "U," an 8-mile-long flood wall at the edges of the East and Hudson rivers that would wrap around the southern tip of Manhattan.

The low, wide wall would consist of three contiguous sections that extend out from the coastline and up onto the land. Each segment contains a separate flood protection zone, while along the top of the wall, landscaped parks and promenades would complement the feel of each neighborhood it runs through.

For instance, an area of Lower Manhattan south of the Manhattan Bridge, where the highway that runs along the island's East River rises as an overpass above some of the city's lowest lying neighborhoods, deployable flood walls would be affixed to the underside of the roadway, flipping down at the onset of a storm.


Maeslantkering

Photograph -- The Maeslantkering in the river Nieuwe Waterweg near Hoek van Holland, Netherlands, closes for the first time since it was built, 08 November 2007 due to high water levels in the North Sea and an expected storm. ED OUDENAARDE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Photograph -- 7822430.jpg, The Maeslantkering, a storm surge barrier between the towns of Hoek van Holland and Maassluis on the river Nieuwe Waterweg, is closed 09 November 2007 for the first time since it was built (1991), due to high water levels in the North Sea and an expected storm. ED OUDENAARDE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

A storm surge barrier in the Netherlands, the Maeslantkering is one of the largest moving structures on Earth.

It comprises hydraulic sea gates that each weigh twice as much as the Eiffel Tower. Construction of the barrier, which extends across about a 394-yard stretch of water from the Rhine to Rotterdam, began in 1991, and didn't open until 1997.

The barrier is operated by a computer system that analyzes sea level and weather data. When a storm surge above about 9.8 feet above sea level is expected, the barrier closes on its own.

The gates are like giant floating pontoon boats that fill up with water. When the weather calms down, water is pumped out.


Giant tunnel plug

Photograph -- This giant tunnel plug inflates to being about 32-feet-long by 16-feed-wide. It can hold up to 35,000 gallons of water. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DIRECTORATE
Photograph -- tunnel-plug.png, The plug could be used in various cities with underground public transportation systems that run under or along large bodies of water. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DIRECTORATE

One of the most lasting effects of the superstorm was the damage done to underground tunnels for cars and subways. A subway tunnel connecting downtown Manhattan to Brooklyn was ravaged by about 27 million gallons of salt water that rushed through it. It took 13 months of repairs, costing $250 million, before it opened again to riders.

Back in January 2012, the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate tested out a plug. Unlike the one you would use to stop water in your bathtub, this one is a hollow sack that can be deployed in a tunnel to trap water as it enters. Made of a thick webbing of Vectran, a liquid-crystal polymer fiber, it stores flat and can fill up in minutes to seal off a section of tunnel. The plug can inflate to about 32 feet long by 16 feet wide and can store up to 35,0000 gallons of water.

"No one's ever done this before," Science and Technology Directorate Project Manager John Fortune said in a press release. "It's completely novel technology."

The technology could be useful in cities with underground public transportation systems that run under large bodies of water. If there's a major flood, the plug could issue from a wall compartment stopping the water from rushing through the tunnel. The device is still being tested.


Multipurpose marina

Photograph -- The Marina Barrage dam, foreground, stands in the Marina South area in this aerial photograph taken above Singapore, on Thursday, July 2, 2015. DARREN SOH, BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

Singapore's Marina Barrage opened in 2008 with much fanfare -- it was a costly project -- about $161 million in U.S. currency, adjusted for inflation -- that aimed to build a dam at the convergence of five separate rivers that would also become a major cultural attraction.

From above, its swirling design looks something like a green, grassy nautilus shell, curving inward. While its top surface is a city park, the barrage multi-tasks -- its main function is to keep the water at bay, protecting against flooding and the ever-encroaching threat of rising sea levels.

Another cool feature? When there's heavy rain during low tide, the reservoir's gates are lowered, releasing excess water back into the sea and, during high-tide, the gates stay open and drainage pumps churn excess water to the ocean.




“Three years ago, Superstorm Sandy ravaged seaside communities along the East Coast. New York City's metropolitan area was severely impacted due to flooding damage done to its tunnels and subway system. Along the coast, storm surges were 14 feet above the average low tide. Sandy led to 48 deaths in New York alone, according to statistics from the National Hurricane Center. …. New York could experience 6 more feet in sea level rise by 2100, which could potentially submerge more than 90 square miles of the city under water, according to a 2015 report published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Major storms that once might have occurred every 500 years could soon happen every 25 years or so on the Atlantic coast. …. "You can't just build on the risks we know about today, but also consider the risks that you can face over a lifetime and risks that extend farther out into the future," Joel Smith, an expert on climate change and a principal with Abt Associates, a consulting firm that aims to address social and environmental issues, told CBS News. …. The Big "U" is a proposed 8-mile-long wall that would wrap around southern Manhattan, New York. REBUILD BY DESIGN/BIGU -- Henk Ovink, the former director general of water planning in the Netherlands, joined the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, which was part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. …. The Big U -- The low, wide wall would consist of three contiguous sections that extend out from the coastline and up onto the land. Each segment contains a separate flood protection zone, while along the top of the wall, landscaped parks and promenades would complement the feel of each neighborhood it runs through. .… where the highway that runs along the island's East River rises as an overpass above some of the city's lowest lying neighborhoods, deployable flood walls would be affixed to the underside of the roadway, flipping down at the onset of a storm. …. A storm surge barrier in the Netherlands, the Maeslantkering is one of the largest moving structures on Earth. It comprises hydraulic sea gates that each weigh twice as much as the Eiffel Tower. Construction of the barrier, which extends across about a 394-yard stretch of water from the Rhine to Rotterdam, began in 1991, and didn't open until 1997. The barrier is operated by a computer system that analyzes sea level and weather data. When a storm surge above about 9.8 feet above sea level is expected, the barrier closes on its own. …. This giant tunnel plug inflates to being about 32-feet-long by 16-feed-wide. It can hold up to 35,000 gallons of water. …. Made of a thick webbing of Vectran, a liquid-crystal polymer fiber, it stores flat and can fill up in minutes to seal off a section of tunnel. …. The Marina Barrage dam, foreground, stands in the Marina South area in this aerial photograph taken above Singapore, on Thursday, July 2, 2015. …. it was a costly project -- about $161 million in U.S. currency, adjusted for inflation -- that aimed to build a dam at the convergence of five separate rivers that would also become a major cultural attraction.”

The Department of Homeland Security is the centerpiece of these innovative methods for stopping flood water at the shore, and both Singapore and the Netherlands are being studied for methodology. Hurricane Sandy was apparently the call to arms, and while the Republicans are still uninterested in reducing the CO2 emissions across the country, some very interesting methods are being explored. I suggest readers look each up on the Net for more information about how they work and how far work has progressed. It’s not a satisfactory solution, but it’s better than nothing. It is also a clear sign that whether or not man caused the climate changes, they are an acknowledged fact.





http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/before-osama-bin-laden-raid-obama-administration%e2%80%99s-secret-legal-deliberations/ar-BBmxmHu?li=AA54ur&ocid=iehp

Before Osama Bin Laden Raid, Obama Administration’s Secret Legal Deliberations
The New York Times
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
October 28, 2015


WASHINGTON — Weeks before President Obama ordered the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in May 2011, four administration lawyers hammered out rationales intended to overcome any legal obstacles — and made it all but inevitable that Navy SEALs would kill the fugitive Qaeda leader, not capture him.


Bin Laden is seen watching himself on television in this video grab released by the Pentagon in May 2011. Five videos were found in his compound.© Department of Defense, via Reuters Bin Laden is seen watching himself on television in this video grab released by the Pentagon in May 2011. Five videos were found in his compound.

Stretching sparse precedents, the lawyers worked in intense secrecy. Fearing leaks, the White House would not let them consult aides or even the administration’s top lawyer, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. They did their own research, wrote memos on highly secure laptops and traded drafts hand-delivered by trusted couriers.

Just days before the raid, the lawyers drafted five secret memos so that if pressed later, they could prove they were not inventing after-the-fact reasons for having blessed it. “We should memorialize our rationales because we may be called upon to explain our legal conclusions, particularly if the operation goes terribly badly,” said Stephen W. Preston, the C.I.A.’s general counsel, according to officials familiar with the internal deliberations.

While the Bin Laden operation has been much scrutinized, the story of how a tiny team of government lawyers helped shape and justify Mr. Obama’s high-stakes decision has not been previously told. The group worked as military and intelligence officials conducted a parallel effort to explore options and prepare members of SEAL Team 6 for the possible mission.

The legal analysis offered the administration wide flexibility to send ground forces onto Pakistani soil without the country’s consent, to explicitly authorize a lethal mission, to delay telling Congress until afterward, and to bury a wartime enemy at sea. By the end, one official said, the lawyers concluded that there was “clear and ample authority for the use of lethal force under U.S. and international law.”

Some legal scholars later raised objections, but criticism was muted after the successful operation. The administration lawyers, however, did not know at the time how events would play out, and they faced the “unenviable task” of “resolving a cluster of sensitive legal issues without any consultation with colleagues,” said Robert M. Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who worked on a Justice Department detainee policy task force in 2009.

“The proposed raid required answers to many hard legal questions, some of which were entirely novel despite a decade’s worth of conflict with Al Qaeda,” Mr. Chesney said.

This account of the role of the four lawyers — Mr. Preston; Mary B. DeRosa, the National Security Council’s legal adviser; Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel; and then-Rear Adm. James W. Crawford III, the Joint Chiefs of Staff legal adviser — is based on interviews with more than a half-dozen current and former administration officials who had direct knowledge of the planning for the raid. While outlines of some of the government’s rationales have been mentioned previously, the officials provided new insights and details about the analysis and decision-making process.

The officials described the secret legal deliberations and memos for a forthcoming book on national security legal policy under Mr. Obama. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential.

‘The Biggest Secret’

“I am about to read you into the biggest secret in Washington,” Michael G. Vickers, the under secretary of defense for intelligence, told Mr. Johnson.

It was March 24, 2011, about five weeks before the raid. Not long before, officials said, Mr. Preston and Ms. DeRosa had visited the Pentagon to meet with Mr. Johnson and Admiral Crawford, the nation’s two top military lawyers. The visitors posed what they said was a hypothetical question: “Suppose we found a very high-value target. What issues would be raised?”

One was where to take him if captured. Mr. Johnson said he would suggest the Guantánamo Bay prison, making an exception to Mr. Obama’s policy of not bringing new detainees there.

But the conversation was necessarily vague. The Pentagon lawyers needed to know the secret if they were going to help, Mr. Preston told Ms. DeRosa afterward.

By then, the two of them had known for over six months that the C.I.A. thought it might have found Bin Laden’s hiding place: a compound in Abbottabad, a military town in northeastern Pakistan. Policy makers initially focused on trying to get more intelligence about who was inside. By the spring of 2011, they turned to possible courses of action, raising legal issues; Thomas W. Donilon, national security adviser to Mr. Obama, then allowed the two military lawyers to be briefed.

One proposal Mr. Obama considered, as previously reported, was to destroy the compound with bombs capable of taking out any tunnels beneath. That would kill dozens of civilians in the neighborhood. But, the officials disclosed, the lawyers were prepared to deem significant collateral damage as lawful, given the circumstances. Still, the Obama team’s examination of the legal factors were intertwined with policy concerns about the wisdom of that option, Mr. Donilon said.

“Not only would there be noncombatants at the compound killed, there could be completely innocent people. That was a key factor in the decision” not to bomb it, he said, adding that the likely impossibility of verifying afterward that Bin Laden had been killed would have heightened controversy over bystander casualties. “All it would have bought us was a propaganda fight.”

Mr. Preston delivered a cabinet-level briefing on April 12, and as the National Security Council deliberated over that and two other options — a more surgical drone strike, which might miss, or a raid by American forces, which carried its own risks — a few other lawyers were eventually told the secret. But the White House kept senior lawyers at the Justice and State Departments in the dark.

On April 28, 2011, a week before the raid, Michael E. Leiter, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, proposed at least telling Mr. Holder. “I think the A.G. should be here, just to make sure,” Mr. Leiter told Ms. DeRosa.

But Mr. Donilon decided that there was no need for the attorney general to know. Mr. Holder was briefed the day before the raid, long after the legal questions had been resolved.

As they worked out their reasoning, the four lawyers conferred in secure conference calls and stopped by Ms. DeRosa’s office after unrelated meetings. They gave no hint to colleagues that anything was afoot. Then, as the possible date for a raid neared, Mr. Preston grew tense and proposed writing the memos.

Mr. Johnson wrote one on violating Pakistani sovereignty. When two countries are not at war, international law generally forbids one from using force on the other’s soil without consent. That appeared to require that the United States ask the Pakistani government to arrest Bin Laden itself or to authorize an American raid. But the administration feared that the Pakistani intelligence service might have sanctioned Bin Laden’s presence; if so, the reasoning went, asking for Pakistan’s help might enable his escape.

The lawyers decided that a unilateral military incursion would be lawful because of a disputed exception to sovereignty for situations in which a government is “unwilling or unable” to suppress a threat to others emanating from its soil.

Invoking this exception was a legal stretch, for two reasons. Many countries have not accepted its legitimacy. And there was no precedent for applying it to a situation in which the United States did not first ask Pakistan, which had helped with or granted consent for other counterterrorism operations. But given fears of a tip-off, the lawyers signed off on invoking the exception.

There was also a trump card. While the lawyers believed that Mr. Obama was bound to obey domestic law, they also believed he could decide to violate international law when authorizing a “covert” action, officials said.

If the SEALs got Bin Laden, the Obama administration would lift the secrecy and trumpet the accomplishment. But if it turned out that the founder and head of Al Qaeda was not there, some officials thought the SEALs might be able to slip back out, allowing the United States to pretend the raid never happened.

Mr. Preston wrote a memo addressing when the administration had to alert congressional leaders under a statute governing covert actions. Given the circumstances, the lawyers decided that the administration would be legally justified in delaying notification until after the raid. But then they learned that the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta, had already briefed several top lawmakers about Abbottabad without White House permission.

The lawyers also grappled with whether it was lawful for the SEAL team to go in intending to kill Bin Laden as its default option. They agreed that it would be legal, in a memo written by Ms. DeRosa, and Mr. Obama later explicitly ordered a kill mission, officials said. The SEAL team expected to face resistance and would go in shooting, relying on the congressional authorization to use military force against perpetrators of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The law of war required acceptance of any surrender offer that was feasible to accept, the lawyers cautioned. But they also knew that military rules of engagement in such a situation narrowly define what would count. They discussed possible situations in which it might still be lawful to shoot Bin Laden even if he appeared to be surrendering — for instance, if militants next to him were firing weapons, or if he could be concealing a suicide vest under his clothing, officials said.

Matt Bissonnette, one of the SEALs who participated in the raid, recalled in his 2012 memoir, “No Easy Day,” that during their preparations, a Washington lawyer told them, “If he is naked with his hands up, you’re not going to engage him.” Mr. Bissonnette and Robert O’Neill, who also joined in the raid, disagree about who fired the fatal shot at Bin Laden. But on a key point they concur: In Bin Laden’s final moments, he neither resisted nor surrendered.

Ms. DeRosa wrote a memo on plans for detaining Bin Laden in the event of his capture. But in a sign of how little expectation there was for his survival, the administration made no hard decisions. The plan was to take him to the brig of a naval ship for interrogation and then figure out how to proceed. The lawyers also considered writing a memo describing their earlier analysis about what to do with any other living prisoners taken out of the compound, but did not write it because the final plan did not call for the SEALs to leave with anyone else.

No Shrines

The final legal question had been whether the United States, to avoid creating a potential Islamist shrine, could bury Bin Laden at sea.

The Geneva Conventions call for burying enemies slain in battle, “if possible,” in accordance with their religion — which for Muslims means swift interment in soil, facing Mecca — and in marked graves. Still, some Islamic writings permit burial at sea during voyages. The burial memo, handled by Admiral Crawford, focused on that exception; ultimately, burial at sea is religiously acceptable if necessary, and is not a desecration, it said.

The lawyers decided that Saudi Arabia, Bin Laden’s home, must be asked whether it wanted his remains. If not, burial at sea would be permissible. As expected, the Saudis declined, officials said.

On Sunday, May 1, the day of the raid, Mr. Johnson rose early, planted impatiens in his yard, put on a sport coat and told his wife he had to go to the office. First, he took communion at his Episcopal church. Admiral Crawford attended Mass at his Catholic parish. He and Mr. Johnson converged at a Pentagon operations center.

Mr. Preston packed a toothbrush and a change of clothes so he could stay overnight at C.I.A. headquarters if the operation went awry. He joined Mr. Panetta in the director’s conference room, then doubling as a command center. Ms. DeRosa came to the White House.

As the SEALs arrived at the compound in Pakistan, Mr. Obama went into a small anteroom off the Situation Room to watch a live video feed. Most of his senior team followed him, as depicted in a famous photo. The four lawyers who had helped clear the way for the operation were not in the frame.

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“Weeks before President Obama ordered the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in May 2011, four administration lawyers hammered out rationales intended to overcome any legal obstacles — and made it all but inevitable that Navy SEALs would kill the fugitive Qaeda leader, not capture him. .… Stretching sparse precedents, the lawyers worked in intense secrecy. Fearing leaks, the White House would not let them consult aides or even the administration’s top lawyer, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. They did their own research, wrote memos on highly secure laptops and traded drafts hand-delivered by trusted couriers. …. The legal analysis offered the administration wide flexibility to send ground forces onto Pakistani soil without the country’s consent, to explicitly authorize a lethal mission, to delay telling Congress until afterward, and to bury a wartime enemy at sea. By the end, one official said, the lawyers concluded that there was “clear and ample authority for the use of lethal force under U.S. and international law.” …. But the administration feared that the Pakistani intelligence service might have sanctioned Bin Laden’s presence; if so, the reasoning went, asking for Pakistan’s help might enable his escape. The lawyers decided that a unilateral military incursion would be lawful because of a disputed exception to sovereignty for situations in which a government is “unwilling or unable” to suppress a threat to others emanating from its soil. .… There was also a trump card. While the lawyers believed that Mr. Obama was bound to obey domestic law, they also believed he could decide to violate international law when authorizing a “covert” action, officials said. …. Mr. Preston wrote a memo addressing when the administration had to alert congressional leaders under a statute governing covert actions. Given the circumstances, the lawyers decided that the administration would be legally justified in delaying notification until after the raid. But then they learned that the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta, had already briefed several top lawmakers about Abbottabad without White House permission. …. The SEAL team expected to face resistance and would go in shooting, relying on the congressional authorization to use military force against perpetrators of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. …. But on a key point they concur: In Bin Laden’s final moments, he neither resisted nor surrendered. …. Still, some Islamic writings permit burial at sea during voyages. The burial memo, handled by Admiral Crawford, focused on that exception; ultimately, burial at sea is religiously acceptable if necessary, and is not a desecration, it said.”

I was glad to see that the Obama Administration thoroughly researched the legal implications, because at the time I heard about it on the news I was worried about international implications to him or to the country. I think his decision to tell so few people, especially the Pakistanis, absolutely nothing about the upcoming raid until it was accomplished, because I have always thought they were helping Osama, or at least sanctioning his presence, in Pakistan. As for questions of sovereignty, with so many international terrorist groups operating in the Middle East who don’t follow a normal pattern in their warfare, as a simple practical matter we shouldn’t either. After all, the old story says that the Greeks loaded their soldiers into a huge hollow wooden horse that they gave to their enemies as a peace gesture and crept out under cover of darkness to slaughter their enemies. That wasn’t nice, but it was effective and intelligent. I think it’s better than stoning “criminals” to death for differing on matters of religion, like so many Islamic groups do. I will simply say that, while I was concerned about the way Osama was killed, I was very glad that he was dead. He wasn’t a legitimate head of state, but a mass murderer.