Posted on 09/04/2012 11:49:17 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
The Pentagon press secretary, George Little, said on Tuesday that the Defense Department believed there was classified information in a new first-person account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Mr. Little did not specify what the information was or do more than repeat threats of legal action. The book, “No Easy Day,” written by a former member of the Navy SEALs, Matt Bissonnette, with a co-author, Kevin Maurer, went on sale on Tuesday. Pentagon officials say Mr. Bissonnette violated nondisclosure agreements he signed with the government, but Mr. Bissonnette and his lawyer say he did not. Penguin, the publisher, is printing 575,000 hardcover copies, placing “No Easy Day” among the biggest books of the year.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I am sure that it was a whole lot less than what the White House leaked.
Pentagon and white house can classify anything they want. There is no check or balance on that. Unfortunately we rely on the occasional book writer or whistle blower to get a glimpse at the truth.
Investigative journalism is dead. The great papers of yore sold their souls for access, even though they know that which they are given access to is highly controlled, contrived, scripted.
The classified information was/is that 0bama acted like an ass.
My goodness, these are Navy Seals. They did their research before they put anything in print. If anyone violated his oath it was Obama, every day.
Obama administration DID leak classified information to filmmakers on Osama bin Laden raid
The Obama administration arranged for Hollywood filmmakers to have special access to government officials involved in the commando operation that killed Osama bin Laden, it has been revealed.
Conservative legal group Judicial Watch posted what it claimed was 153 pages of Pentagon documents and 113 pages of CIA documents about the film project on its website yesterday.
The paper trail revealed that filmmakers were given access to top White House officials, the identity of a SEAL team member involved in the raid on bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan and were taken to the top-secret ‘vault’ where the attack was planned.
The exchanges were between White House, CIA, Pentagon officials and Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, the director and screenwriter of The Hurt Locker, a 2008 film about the Iraq war that won an Oscar for Best Picture.
The film project, titled Zero Dark Thirty about the May 2011 raid on bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan, became a focus of controversy last year when it was reported that its release date was weeks before the November 6 election - timed to boost President Obama’s image to voters.
Producers have now pushed the release back to December.
The documents were obtained through a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act - which can be used to force government agencies to release undisclosed information.
Neither the CIA nor the Pentagon disputed the authenticity of the documents. A spokesman for the National Security Council said the White House would have no comment on the documents beyond those issued last August by press secretary Jay Carney, who said the Obama administration had not given the filmmakers classified information.
The CIA and Pentagon said there was nothing unusual about their dealings with the filmmakers.
‘The CIA has been open about our engagement with writers, documentary filmmakers, movie and TV producers, and others in the entertainment industry,’ said Jennifer Youngblood, an agency spokeswoman.
She added: ‘Our goal is an accurate portrayal of the men and women of the CIA, their vital mission and the commitment to public service that defines them.
‘The protection of national security equities is always paramount in any engagement with the entertainment industry.’
Pentagon spokesman George Little said: ‘The Department of Defence, as well as other agencies and departments, regularly engage with the entertainment industry to inform projects ranging from books to documentaries to feature films.
‘Many individuals in the industry expressed interest in developing projects on what can only be described as one of the top intelligence and military successes of a generation. Our engagement on these projects was driven by a desire to inform, not by timing.’
Today's generation doesn't know what it is. Judith Miller from the New York Times went into Iraqi Kurdistan with a photographer when Saddam was bombarding Kurdish villages with mustard gas. They came back with conclusive evidence. That was the last piece of work that impressed me.
Mostly today what happens is some partisan-driven bureaucrat or congressional aide delivers classified files to a reporter then helps them write the story. If it damages a Republican administration the reporter gets a Pulitzer.
Thank God for the internet.
Cool. I need 2.
WH leaks for propaganda film
The administration takes a break from its war on whistleblowers to provide classified information to filmmakers
As is now well documented, the Obama administration has waged an unprecedented war on whistleblowers, prosecuting more of them under espionage statutes than all prior administrations combined: twice as many as all prior administrations combined, in fact. They are attempting, or have attempted, to imprison whistleblowers who exposed corrupt and illegal NSA eavesdropping, dangerously inept efforts to impede Iran’s nuclear program (which likely strengthened it), the destructive uses of torture, and a litany of previously unknown U.S.-caused civilian deaths and other American war crimes.
But there’s one type of leak of classified information that the White House not only approves of but itself routinely exploits: the type that glorifies the President for propagandistic ends. The transparency group Judicial Watch brought FOIA lawsuits against the administration seeking information regarding the Osama bin Laden raid, but the administration insisted in federal court that the operation is secret and thus not subject to disclosure (even as they were leaking details about the raid to the press).
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/23/wh_leaks_for_propaganda_film/
The Pentagon is now hopelessly politicized, thanks to Obama. I don’t believe them. I also don’t think this SEAL is doing the right thing.
Judicial Watch Obtains DOD and CIA Records Detailing Meetings with bin Laden Raid Filmmakers
May 22, 2012
A transcript of a July 14, 2011, meeting between DOD officials, including Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers, Bigelow and Boal indicates that Boal met directly with White House officials on at least two occasions regarding the film: “I took your guidance and spoke to the WH and had a good meeting with Brennan and McDonough and I plan to follow up with them; and they were forward leaning and interested in sharing their point of view; command and control; so that was great, thank you,” Boal said according to the transcript. Vickers asks if the meeting was a follow-up, to which Boal responds, “Yes correct; this was a follow-up.” The documents seemingly reference John O. Brennan, Chief Counterterrorism Advisor to President Obama and Denis McDonough, who serves as President Obama’s Deputy National Security Advisor.
The July 14, 2011, meeting transcript also reveals that the DOD provided the filmmakers with the identity of a “planner, SEAL Team 6 Operator and Commander.” (The name is blacked out in the document.) In proposing the arrangement, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers said: “The only thing we ask is that you not reveal his name in any way as a consultant because . . . he shouldn’t be talking out of school.” Vickers went on to say during the meeting at the Pentagon: “This at least, this gives him one step removed and he knows what he can and can’t say, but this way at least he can be as open as he can with you and it ought to meet your needs.” Boal later responds, “You delivered.”
A July 13, 2011, internal CIA email indicates that Bigelow and Boal were granted access to “the Vault,” which is described the CIA building where some of the tactical planning for the bin Laden raid took place: “I was given your name as the POC in [redacted] who could determine the feasibility of having a potential walk-through of…the Vault in the [redacted] building that was used for some of the tactical planning in the Bin Laden Raid [sic]. In consultation with the Office of Public Affairs and as part of the larger chronicling of the Bin Laden raid, OPA will be hosting some visitors sanctioned by ODCIA this Friday afternoon.” (The name of the sender is blacked out.) “Of course this is doable,” an official responds.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/13421/
Bought the book.... almost finished with it...I don’t see anything as classified material.
Get the book before obama’s handlers get it censored
who was the first person to blab about the specific military unit involved in this operation?
VP Bite-me Biden
Who was the first idiot to crow out loud about this operation and compromise the ability of the US to exploit captured documents and round up more al Qaeda?
Barry Oaf-bama
and there's half of SEAL Team 6 dead in a helicopter ambush planned by someone who had advance information
and then there's Barry Oaf-bama whispering to the Russian president to tell Putin that he'll have more flexibilty to disarm the USA after the election
and don't even start on the leaks from the WH published in the NYT
I very much agree with you.
There are times when silence is golden.
Let the Pentagon pull every copy of the book, shut down publishing of the book and hunt down every copy already sold at gunpoint.
The silence will be deafening...
IIRC, The “messenger” we were working with was assassinated by us.
So, in other words, he wrote about things that the NY Times didn’t already know?
The secrete is out !
zer0 caught in more lies, this time from an eye witness and in fact participant involved in the event.
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