“If this facility is so secret that the name cannot even be seen by the
public, then why in the world would the Obama Administration allow
filmmakers to tour it?” Mr King asked.
Amid Republican calls for an inquiry, Mr King wrote to senior officials at the
Pentagon and CIA demanding further details on what was disclosed to Ms
Bigelow and her screenwriter, Mark Boal.
In a meeting last July, Michael Vickers, under secretary of defence for
intelligence, promised to “make a guy available who was involved from
the beginning”, who would “give you everything you would want”,
transcripts show. “That’s dynamite,” replied Mr Boal. Ms Bigelow,
who won the 2009 Oscar for Best Director for The Hurt Locker, added: “That’s
incredible”.
Mr Vickers said: “The only thing we ask is that you not reveal his name
in any way he shouldn’t be talking out of school.” The Pentagon now
claims that the man, whose name was redacted in the released documents, was
not involved directly in the raid.
The meeting was held just weeks after Robert Gates, then Mr Vickers’s boss as
defence secretary, said he was “very concerned” that leaks from
the bin Laden raid could jeopardise future operations. Mr Obama’s
administration has aggressively targeted the sources of government leaks
throughout its first term.
In an email, Mr Boal also discussed meeting John Brennan, Mr Obama’s chief
counterterrorism adviser, and Denis McDonough, the President’s deputy
national security adviser.
The Republicans said the emails and transcripts – which amount to hundreds of
pages – suggested that classified material may have been given to people
without necessary security clearances.
“A release of classified documents for clearly political ends would call
into question the Obama administration’s judgment,” said Kirsten
Kukowski, a party spokesman. “Putting politics before our national
security is certainly cause for concern and it should be investigated
immediately.” Republicans also voiced concerns that the documents
showed some of the contact between officials and the film’s producers had
been brokered by Glover Park Group, a Left-leaning lobbying firm whose
senior staff include former Clinton administration officials.
Critics of Mr Obama from the Left also said it was astonishing that an
administration that had prosecuted more whistleblowers than all previous
governments combined had been caught happily leaking to Hollywood allies.
The White House referred to a statement by the President’s press secretary
last year that it was “ridiculous” and “simply false” to
suggest that classified information had been leaked for the film, which is
now due to be released in December, after the presidential election.
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