Categories: GovernmentGovernment Accountability & I.G. Reports

Congressionally Requested Action on Released Department of Defense Information to the Media, June 14, 2013

October 2, 2016

Background

In a letter dated August 9, 2011, the Honorable Peter King, Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, U.S. House of Representatives, cited concerns involving “ongoing leaks of classified information regarding sensitive military operations.” Chairman King referenced an August 6, 2011, New York Times op-ed column that claims, “Administration officials may have provided filmmakers with details of the raid that successfully killed Usama Bin Laden (UBL).” According to this article, filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal received “top-level access to the most classified mission in history.” Chairman King requested that Department of Defense (DoD) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Inspectors General explore related matters and respond to the following questions:

“What consultations, if any, occurred between members of the Executive Office of the President, and Department of Defense and/or CIA officials, regarding the advisability of providing Hollywood executives with access to covert military operators and clandestine CIA officers to discuss the UBL raid?”
“Will a copy of this film be submitted to the military and CIA for prepublication review, to determine if special operations tactics, techniques and procedures, or Agency intelligence sources and methods, would be revealed by its release?”
“How was the attendance of filmmakers at a meeting with special operators and Agency officers at CIA Headquarters balanced against those officers’ duties to maintain their covers? How will cover concerns be addressed going forward?”
“What steps did the Administration take to ensure that no special operations tactics, techniques, and procedures were compromised during those meetings?”

This report responds to specific questions posed by Chairman King. In conducting this project, we focused exclusively on DoD equities and interests. Additionally, we reviewed applicable laws, regulations, DoD Directives and Instructions; reviewed and analyzed numerous documents and emails obtained from DoD components; and interviewed numerous personnel from DoD components.