ungoverned spaces to some significant extent. ungoverned. that means this is where al qaeda is thriving these days. these are the areas the u.s. goes after very covertly, only talking about it when they want to. clearly, they wanted the world to know about these operations because of the threat posed, but this goes on quite frequently and this really is a new face of al qaeda. these affiliate organizations in so many countries this u.s. special operations are targ targeting. don? >> don't go anywhere because i want to get to nic now. he is in london. you have been speaking with your sources about the operation that happened about al libi. what are they telling you? >> well, they're saying this is a significant cross raid. quite where it leads they say it's unclear. a significant cross roads because it means this is a direct intervention into libya to pick up this senior al qaeda