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White House said to give inside access for bin Laden film By Mark Hosenball Posted 2012/05/22 at 8:10 pm EDT WASHINGTON, May 22, 2012 (Reuters) — The Obama administration arranged for two Hollywood filmmakers toget special access to government officials involved in the commandooperation that killed Osama bin Laden, according to a conservativelegal group that posted internal government documents on itswebsite Tuesday. Judicial Watch posted what it said were 153 pages of Pentagondocuments and 113 pages of CIA documents about the film project.The group said it had obtained the documents through a lawsuit itfiled under the Freedom of Information Act, which can be used toforce government agencies to release some undisclosed information. Among the disclosures were that the filmmakers had access to topWhite House officials, were given the identity of a SEAL teammember involved in the raid and taken to the top-secret "vault"where the raid was planned. The group said the documents lay out contacts between White House,CIA and Pentagon officials and Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, thedirector and screenwriter of "The Hurt Locker," a 2008 film aboutthe Iraq war that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film project, titled "Zero Dark Thirty" about the May 2011 raidon bin Laden's compound in Pakistan, became a focus of controversylast year when a New York Times columnist reported that itsproducers planned to release it weeks before the November 6election in which President Barack Obama is seeking re-election.That has been pushed back to December. Neither the CIA nor the Pentagon disputed the authenticity of thedocuments. A spokesman for the National Security Council said theWhite House would have no comment on the documents beyond thoseissued last August by presidential press secretary Jay Carney, whosaid the White House had not given the filmmakers classifiedinformation. The CIA and Pentagon said there was nothing unusual about theirdealings with the filmmakers. "The CIA has been open about our engagement with writers,documentary filmmakers, movie and TV producers, and others in theentertainment industry," said Jennifer Youngblood, an agencyspokeswoman. She added: "Our goal is an accurate portrayal of the men and womenof the CIA, their vital mission and the commitment to publicservice that defines them. The protection of national securityequities is always paramount in any engagement with theentertainment industry." Pentagon spokesman George Little said, "The Department of Defense,as well as other agencies and departments, regularly engage withthe entertainment industry to inform projects ranging from books todocumentaries to feature films. "Many individuals in the industry expressed interest in developingprojects on what can only be described as one of the topintelligence and military successes of a generation," Little added."Our engagement on these projects was driven by a desire to inform,not by timing." SEAL TEAM MEMBER REVEALED In a statement posted on its website, Judicial Watch said thedocuments indicate that the Pentagon granted Bigelow and Boalaccess to a "planner, Operator and Commander of SEAL Team Six," theNavy commando unit that carried out the raid during which bin Ladenwas killed in Abbotabad, Pakistan, where he apparently had livedfor years. Among the documents the group said it obtained is a transcript of aJuly 14, 2011, meeting with Pentagon officials in which Bigelow andBoal indicate that Boal met with White House National SecurityCouncil official Denis McDonough and chief counter-terrorismadviser John Brennan to discuss the film project. According to Judicial Watch, the transcript quotes Michael Vickers,the Pentagon's intelligence chief, giving the filmmakers theidentity of a senior SEAL team member involved in the raid on thecondition that "you not reveal his name in any way as a consultant,because ... he shouldn't be talking out of school." The group says that it also obtained an internal CIA email thatindicates Bigelow and Boal were granted access to "the vault," aCIA installation where some of the planning for the bin Laden raidtook place. However, the group says that other correspondence released by thegovernment indicates that although they were helping thefilmmakers, Obama administration officials otherwise sought tolimit media access to those involved in the bin Laden operation andother counter-terrorism insiders. Judicial Watch says that it has a June 13, 2011, email in whichVickers advises Douglas Wilson, the Pentagon's public affairschief, that the Defense Department "would like to shape the storyto prevent any gross inaccuracies," but it did not "want to make itlook like the commanders think it's okay to talk to the media." Judicial Watch said another Pentagon email describes how arepresentative of the Glover Park Group, a Washington lobbying firmwith close ties to the Democratic Party, helped arrange thefilmmakers' access to administration officials. The Glover Park group had no immediate comment. FILM'S RELEASE DELAYED Judicial Watch said it launched its investigation of the Obamaadministration's dealings with the filmmakers after seeing pressreports suggesting that the administration might have leakedclassified information as source material for the film. Maureen Dowd, a columnist for the New York Times, wrote last yearthat the movie was scheduled to open on October 12, just more thanthree weeks before the November 6 presidential election. After Dowd's column appeared, U.S. Representative Peter King, theoutspoken Republican who chairs the House Committee on HomelandSecurity, asked the Inspectors General of both the Pentagon and CIAto investigate the administration's dealings with the filmmakers,suggesting in a letter that he was concerned about leaks ofclassified information. At the time, White House spokesman Jay Carney rejected King'ssuggestion that security had been compromised as "ridiculous" anddenied the White House had disclosed any classified information tothe filmmakers. The movie is being filmed in India and Jordan and stars ChrisPratt, Jessica Chastain and Joel Edgerton, according to moviewebsite IMDB. With release scheduled for December 19, the movie isproduced by Megan Ellison, daughter of Oracle Corp chief LarryEllison, and backed by Sony Pictures. Media reports have said the release was delayed until after thepresidential election to prevent the project from being associatedwith partisan politics. As the presidential campaign has heated up, some Republicans haveaccused Obama and the White House of exploiting the bin Laden raidand other counter-terrorism successes for political purposes. (Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by David Lindseyand Cynthia Osterman). I am an expert from semmetalworks.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Drywall Cart , China Swing Stage Scaffolding, Scaffold Props,and more.
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