This is a common way for attackers to target high-value users.

FORBES: How reputation services enhance IPS

And he is not the only high-value target who did that by hiding in highly populated areas.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

Towards the end of April 2011, however, the doctor became suspicious that the CIA was after a high-value target in the Abbottabad compound.

BBC: Profile: Shakil Afridi

The consulate in Benghazi was low-hanging fruit - a vulnerable facility in a jihadist-infested city with a high-value target, a U.S. ambassador, who had no security.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Obama Lied After People Died

The U.S. government does not comment officially on such designations, but being considered a high-value target would potentially put him in the crosshairs of the United States.

CNN: Al-Awlaki's father asks Obama to end manhunt

According to him, Dr Afridi did get suspicious by late April 2011 that there might be a high-value target in the Abbottabad compound, but he still didn't know who it was.

BBC: Was 'Bin Laden doctor' Shakil Afridi an unsuspecting pawn?

Al-Awlaki is considered a high-value target, the official said.

CNN: Al-Awlaki's father asks Obama to end manhunt

But when public confidence in the war in Iraq began slipping, Rumsfeld became what he might himself have called a "high-value target" for criticism, some of it from within the Republican party.

NPR: Rumsfeld Blames His Exit on Iraq Failures

Last week, France called for the European Central Bank (ECB) to consider setting a target for the single currency - steering it lower when the value became too high.

BBC: Euro rises as finance ministers meet