Bin Laden hanging out for years in the Pakistani equivalent of a McMansion in Falls Church should raise some pretty major suspicions of everyone involved.
The Cleveland kidnapper kept 3 women forcibly imprisoned in his house for 10 years before someone noticed. It's definitely possible to "hide in plain sight."
Its possible you missed the Falls Church reference, as you are missing the other half of the comment. There is hiding in plain sight, and then there is hiding in plain sight in the center of a country's defense establishment.
The DC area isn't necessarily under any more scrutiny than the rest of the country. It contains more than its share of physically secure compounds under armed guard, and some important people with bodyguards at home, but other than the increased likelihood of being spotted by a CIA analyst at the grocery store I'm not sured how they'd have an easier time finding someone there.
It's not even necessarily about "easier to find"; it's about "more convenient to keep track of".
( .) ( .)
>... "The Pakistani equivalent of a McMansion in Falls Church"