Dive Brief:

• On Wednesday, the CIA released a cache of docments and intelligence materials seized by US commandos on May 2, 2011 after they stormed Osama bin Laden's hideout in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad and shot him dead.
• Among those documents was an apparent al-Qaeda job application, which spookily resembles a typical job app for your run-of-the-mill employer, with basic instructions such as "Please write clearly and legibly," "If you do not speak Arabic, please answer in the language you know" and  "You should know that the review of this application form is limited to the concerned individuals only."
• Eventually—and not exactly surprisingly—the questions took a decided turn for the worse. Questions such as "Do you wish to execute a suicide operation?" and "Who should we contact in case you became a martyr?" were on the form (to be fair, those two do sort of work together). There also was a bit of career planning. To wit: "What objectives would you would like to accomplish on your jihad path?"

Dive Insight

It is clear from the questions and the form itself that Osama bin Laden must have had some contact with the HR world when he was visiting Europe and the U.S. The most interesting thing about the entire document is its ho-hum sort of tone. As if it could be for any type of job or employer.

Of course, those questions about martydom gave it all away. Then, there was this question: "Do you have any chronic or hereditary disease(s)?"

Seriously?