April and May 2012 :
MAY 3, 2012 : (US STATE DEPT DENIES REQUEST FROM THE SECURITY TEAM AT THE US EMBASSY IN LIBYA TO RETAIN A DC-3 AND A SECURITY TEAM) ABC News has obtained an internal State Department email from May 3, 2012, indicating that the State Department denied a request from the security team at the Embassy of Libya to retain a DC-3 airplane in the country to better conduct their duties.-————Email Shows State Department Rejecting Request of Security Team at US Embassy in Libya, Jake Tapper , ABC News, Oct 5, 2012 7:00, Friday
MAY 22, 2012 : (FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS THE RELEASE OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS REGARDING CIA COLLABORATION WITH FILMMAKERS) On May 22, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a Federal judge ordered the release of electronic communications regarding the CIA’s cooperation on the bin Laden movie. -————King Statement on CIA/DoD Documents on Osama bin Laden Movie Collaboration
May 23, 2012 http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/ny03_king/kingstatementoblmovie.html
MAY 23, 2012 : (KING ISSUES STATEMENT ON COLLABORATION BETWEEN TOP ADMIN OFFICIALS AND DEMOCRAT LOBBYISTS [GLOVER PARK GROUP]) King Statement on CIA/DoD Documents on Osama bin Laden Movie Collaboration , May 23, 2012
Emails tell “damning story of…unprecedented, and potentially dangerous collaboration” between top Administration officials and Democratic lobbyists
Washington, D.C. – Today, Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, issued the following statement and sent the two attached letters in response to the release of internal CIA and Department of Defense email messages related to the planned Sony Pictures movie on the mission in which U.S. Special Operations Forces killed Osama bin Laden.
The documents were released yesterday by Judicial Watch, which obtained them, via court order, through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Links to the documents are available HERE.
King said: “Filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal may have set out to tell a blockbuster, election-year story about one of the most highly classified operations in American history, but through these emails they’ve ended up telling a damning story of extremely close, unprecedented, and potentially dangerous collaboration with top officials at the CIA, DoD, and the White House and a top Democratic lobbying firm.”
“After reviewing these emails, I am even more concerned about the possible exposure of classified information to these filmmakers, who as far as I know, do not possess security clearances. The email messages indicate that the filmmakers were allowed an unprecedented visit to a classified facility so secret that its name is redacted in the released email. 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? The emails also tell of these filmmakers being allowed to tour the CIA’s vaults, which is absolutely shocking to those of us who know the sensitive nature of materials kept there.
“Also troubling is the fact that the Democratic lobbying firm Glover Park Group was so intimately involved in brokering these filmmakers’ access to clandestine officers and potentially special operators only weeks after the mission and when details were otherwise still very closely guarded, and one of Glover Park’s primary contacts within the Administration, CIA spokeswoman Marie Harf, left shortly thereafter to join President Obama’s reelection campaign in Chicago.
“This is a very serious issue. We simply cannot forget what then-Secretary of Defense Bob Gates said a week after the raid: ‘Frankly, a week ago Sunday, in the Situation Room, we all agreed that we would not release any operational details from the effort to take out bin Laden. That all fell apart on Monday, the next day.’”
Also today, King sent letters to Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael G. Vickers and Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell voicing his concerns about the potential release of classified information to the filmmakers. The signed letters sent to Vickers and Morell are available HERE.
In August [2011], Chairman King requested that the Inspectors General at the DoD and the CIA investigate reports that the Obama Administration granted Sony Pictures and filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal high-level access for a film on the mission. The film was originally reported to have a planned release of October 2012, just a month before the November 2012 elections.
In December, the DoD Inspector General informed King that, following an initial review, the Inspector General for Intelligence and Special Program Assessments had launched a formal investigation into “actions taken by Defense Department personnel related to the release of information to the filmmakers.”
Previously, the CIA’s Inspector General informed King that the Agency was to develop “a written policy to create a single point of reference that will govern future interactions with the entertainment industry.”
King’s August 9 letter requesting the investigation is available HERE.
The December 2011 letter from DoD to King is available HERE.
The November 2011 letter from the CIA to King is available HERE.
White House spokesman Jay Carney, questioned about King’s request on August 10, dismissed King’s common-sense concerns, saying “I would hope that as we face a continued threat from terrorism, the House Committee on Homeland Security would have more important topics to discuss than a movie.”
Today’s disclosures demonstrate just how valid Chairman King’s concerns were and how reckless Administration conduct was.
Note: The text (with footnotes omitted for formatting purposes) of King’s letters to Under Secretary Vickers and Deputy Director Morell follows:[See KING’S MAY 23, 2012 LETTERS]-————King Statement on CIA/DoD Documents on Osama bin Laden Movie Collaboration
May 23, 2012 http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/ny03_king/kingstatementoblmovie.html
Nice work. Thanks.