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US officials released five videos of Osama bin Laden Saturday, part of what they called 鈥渢he single largest collection of senior terrorist materials ever鈥� seized.

Recovered during the Navy SEAL raid of Osama bin Laden鈥檚 compound almost one week ago, the 鈥渢reasure trove鈥� of documents, thumb drives, and videos demonstrate that the suburban house inhabited by bin Laden 鈥渨as an active command and control center for Al Qaeda鈥檚 top leader,鈥� according to a senior intelligence official, who briefed reporters on the condition that he not be named.

鈥淗e was far from a figurehead,鈥� the official said. 鈥淗e was an active player鈥� whose role was 鈥渢o encourage plotting.鈥�

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The videos, released without audio, include the image of a gray-bearded bin Laden wrapped in a blanket, TV remote in hand, watching news footage of himself on television in a room with blacked-out curtains.

Some of the clips 鈥渁re clearly outtakes,鈥� the official said, as reporters in a Pentagon briefing room viewed images of bin Laden rehearsing his televised messages in front of a wrinkled baby-blue sheet and a large armoire believed to be located at the compound.

Another video showed bin Laden missing his speaking cue as a light malfunctioned, clips promptly dubbed 鈥渂in Laden鈥檚 bloopers鈥� by reporters.

One of the videos, which was labeled a 鈥渕essage to America,鈥� was recorded between Oct. 9 and Nov. 5, 2010 鈥� the only video that was dated among the five that were released. In it, bin Laden is shown 鈥渃ondemning US policy and denigrating capitalism,鈥� the official said.

The official told reporters that the audio was removed from the videos because it is 鈥渋nappropriate to spread the message of terrorists.鈥�

While US intelligence officials continue to catalog the material from the compound, 鈥渢he treasure trove of information has provided some golden nuggets,鈥� the official added.

As US authorities cull through the cache, 鈥渋dentifying imminent threats in plotting is of course our top priority,鈥� the official said. The trove indicated that bin Laden 鈥渁ppeared to show a continuing interest in [US] transportation targets,鈥� he added. Officials hope the materials will also offer clues about Al Qaeda's financing and its efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

Some of the most striking developments came earlier this week from Al Qaeda itself, in the terrorist organization鈥檚 reaction to the death of its leader. The intelligence official called it 鈥渘oteworthy that the group didn鈥檛 announce a new leader,鈥� and said this is evidence that Al Qaeda is struggling in the wake of bin Laden鈥檚 death.

Bin Laden鈥檚 presumed successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, 鈥渋s not popular within certain circles鈥� of Al Qaeda, the intelligence official said. Some within Al Qaeda consider him to be 鈥渆xtremely controlling, a micromanager, and not especially charismatic,鈥� he added.

The videos also demonstrate that bin Laden dyed his graying beard black for his television appearances. 鈥淭his is clearly an Al Qaeda leader who is interested in his own image,鈥� the official said, adding that bin Laden's beard was gray when he was killed in his compound.

The Saturday briefing, held immediately before the taping of Sunday television talk shows, is widely considered to be an effort to shift public discussion toward the content of intelligence materials gathered in the raid 鈥� and away from a series of conspicuous missteps that administration officials made when they released differing accounts of what happened the night bin Laden was killed.

鈥淭his is the greatest intelligence success, perhaps of a generation,鈥� the official stressed. "This is a classic and historic intelligence success."

Defending criticism that neither bin Laden nor any of his family members were taken by US operatives for questioning, the official said, 鈥淭here was one objective for this mission, and that was to find Osama bin laden 鈥� and if he wasn鈥檛 there, to get out.鈥�

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