Collaboration of security agencies with Bin Laden film questioned again | WPN World People News

Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security Rep. Peter King on Wednesday expressed concerns over a planned Hollywood feature film on the US raid that resulted in the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan that relied on CIA and Defense Department, describing it as "potentially dangerous collaboration".

Stressing that the matter requires more investigation, King said the collaboration could reveal classified information to the filmmakers.

In a statement, King said the emails and documents released by the CIA and Defense Department to the filmmakers of 'Zero Dark Thirty" recently were disconcerting.

"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," said King.

"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?" he said.

Speaking on a talk show on CNN's Starting Point Wednesday, King expressed concern over the film director Kathryn Bigelow being "taken to locations and sites that are not even mentioned and have been blacked out of the reports because they are sensitive. Yet she was taken to them and other people who were involved with her were taken there."

Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security underlined: "This to me requires more investigation."

Referring to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch in a Freedom of Information Act request, King points out that the filmmakers received "extremely close, unprecedented, and potentially dangerous collaboration" from the Obama administration.

According to the released documents, at a briefing on July 14, 2011, Undersecretary of Defense Michael Vickers said that he could make available to the filmmakers a "planner, SEAL Team 6 Operator and Commander," whose name was later blacked out in the documents.

The filmmakers were also taken to "The Vault," according to the documents, which is a part of the CIA building where the planning for the bin Laden raid took place.

King called such a visit "absolutely shocking." This is not the first time King has voiced concerns about the about the administration's cooperation with Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. and Kathryn Bigelow, director of the Oscar-winning picture "The Hurt Locker".

Releasing a December letter from the Pentagon, King pointed to the fact that it says that the inspector general's office covering intelligence matters "will address actions taken by Department of Defense personnel related to the release of information to the filmmakers."

Another letter written by the CIA in November claims, that its public affairs office was developing a "single point of reference that will govern future interactions with the entertainment industry."

Even earlier in August, King wrote to the inspectors general of the Pentagon and CIA pointing to a New York Times column saying that Sony and Bigelow had been given "top-level access to the most classified mission in history."

In his letter, King said that leaks of classified information related to the bin Laden raid had already resulted in the arrests of Pakistanis believed by Pakistan authorities to have assisted the CIA.

Further leaks about the participation by the Pentagon and the CIA through the film, King warned "is bound to increase such leaks, and undermine these organizations' hard-won reputations as 'quiet professionals'.

Politico newspaper first reported the story of the emails, which were released by conservative-leaning Judicial Watch on Wednesday.

According to Politico, a Pentagon spokesman claimed that the name released to the filmmakers was not a member of the SEAL team.

"The identity of a planner, not a member of SEAL Team 6, was provided by USSOCOM as a possible point of contact for additional information if the DoD determined that additional support was merited," Lt. CAol. James Gregory said. "No additional official DoD support was granted, nor to our knowledge was it pursued by the film makers."

Originally scheduled for release in October this year, the film has been pushed back to December.

Responding to King's concerns, Pentagon press secretary George Little disputed some of the allegations.

He said that while a planner was suggested as a possible point of contact for information on the Osama bin Laden raid, a meeting between that planner and the filmmakers never occurred.

Source: North America News.Net