Stack of ‘Overlooked’ CIA Records Detailing Meetings with bin Laden Filmmakers found

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Judicial Watch:

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained records from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Department of Defense (DOD) regarding meetings and communications between government agencies and Kathryn Bigelow, the Academy Award-winning director of The Hurt Locker, and screenwriter Mark Boal in preparation for their film Zero Dark Thirty, which details the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden.  According to the records, the Obama administration granted Boal and Bigelow unusual access to agency information in preparation for their film, which was reportedly scheduled for an October 2012 release, just before the presidential election, but the trailers are running now until the rescheduled release in December.

The records – which should have been produced months ago pursuant to a court order in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed on January 21, 2012 – include records from a “stack” of “overlooked” documents discovered by the CIA in July 2012. The following are highlights from the records, which include internal DOD, White House and CIA email correspondence with the filmmakers:

  • According to a June 15, 2011, email from Benjamin Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, to then Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Doug Wilson, then-CIA Director of Public Affairs George Little, and Deputy White House Press Secretary Jaime Smith, the Obama White House was intent on “trying to have visibility into the UBL (Usama bin Laden) projects.”

“…we are trying to have visibility into the UBL projects and this is likely the most high profile one. Would like to have whatever group is going around in here at the WH [White House] to get a sense of what they’re doing / what cooperation they’re seeking. Jamie will be POC [point of contact].”

  • According to e-mail exchange on June 7, 2011, CIA spokesperson Marie E. Harf openly discussed providing preferential treatment to the Boal/Bigelow project over others related to the bin Laden killing: “I know we don’t pick favorites but it makes sense to get behind a winning horse…Mark and Kathryn’s movie is going to be the first and the biggest. It’s got the most money behind it, and two Oscar winners on board…”
  • In a July 20, 2011, e-mail, Mark Boal writes to thank then-CIA Director of Public Affairs George Little for “pulling for him” with the agency, noting that it made, “all the difference.” Little responds: “…I can’t tell you how excited we all are (at DOD and CIA) about the project…PS – I want you to know how good I’ve been not mentioning the premiere tickets. :)”
  • On July 13, 2011, Mark Boal’s assistant, Jonathan Leven, sent CIA spokesperson Marie Harf a copy of the floor plan of the bin Laden compound and asked him to verify its accuracy:  “Per your conversation with Mark, can you verify whether this floor plan is accurate?” The next day Harf responds: “Ok, I checked with our folks, and that floor plan matches with what we have. It looks legit to us.”
  • On July 14, 2011, Mark Boal asks CIA spokesperson Marie Harf to provide detailed information regarding the third floor of the compound that were not present on the open-source floor plan: “Would you mind looking into getting us some of the third floor specs…as the open source plan is missing those: height of wall, etc..? We will be building a full scale replica of the house. Including the inhabitants of the animal pen!” Harf responds minutes later: “Ha! Of course I don’t mind! I’ll work on that tomorrow…

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Well, it looks like the only secrets left are where is BHOs birth certificate!

Greg, Tom, and Rich will stop by this thread to whine and gripe about the CIA attempting to politicize the OBL raid to Obie’s advantage in 3…2…1…

Oh wait…those guys have no problem with Obie and the CIA politicizing the OBL raid. They only have a problem with members of the SEALs criticizing Obie and others for releasing too much information.

Nevermind.

So what? The information given was probably declassified. Or, are the righties really irritated about the publicity that will ensue through film and publication?

Lib1 has the wrong question.
The issue is the open publication about means of operation. Way back there in the past, Sun Tzu told us about war. One of the principal weapons of war is operational security. If your enemy knows what your plans are, your enemy can defend against those plans. I am saying nothing new here.
Some years ago there was a huge controversy about Valerie Plame. She worked for the CIA. She was not posted overseas; she was not on secret missions; she held down a desk job. Yet her “outing” led to the destruction of a man’s career.
Now we see the entire membership of Seal Team Six published. The unit, its operation, its plans, and its membership should properly have been code word protected. In other words, information about the unit should only have been known to a select group with “need to know”, and not revealed even to those with Top Secret clearance. Seal Team Six can no longer operate. Its individual members will be at risk for the rest of their lives. The capacities of this elite unit are now denied to us. And this publication has been done solely for political purposes. The President chose to tell the whole story to his media friends, hoping for a political bounce from a feature film, released in October 2012, which chronicled the heroic exploits if his administration. Whether Obama is re-elected or not, Seal Team Six cannot be used again.
So we see the United States Military is now a part of Team Obama. The purpose of the Military is not the defense of the United States. The purpose of the Military is the re-election of Obama. I guess we have no enemies anymore, except for folks like me.
After all, I am the ENEMY. Janet Napolitano has told me so. I am an Army veteran. I know how to shoot a rifle and a pistol. I believe in capitalism. I am a Republican. I did not vote for Obama. I will go further: I believe that the United States Constitution is the founding document of our government. I believe that Obama has overthrown the Constitution and replaced it with a document of his own authoring. Ex post facto laws are now legal (tariffs on solar panels). Work is no longer a part of welfare. Drilling for oil is prohibited. Toilets, light bulbs, and who knows what else are Federally Regulated. Now we learn that hurricane relief is solely a Federal prerogative. Forget the States. Forget the 10th Amendment. The Federal Government is all, controls all, and deserves all our money and fealty.
Ugh.
Not buying that one!

@Liberal1 (objectivity):

I don’t think so. googling found: AR 380-5 3-100. Policy
Information classified under E.O. 12356 (reference (b)) and prior orders shall be declassified or downgraded as soon as national security considerations permit. (THIS IS THE OPERATIVE SENTENCE – WE ARE STILL AT WAR WITH al qaeda) Decisions concerning declassification shall be based on the loss of sensitivity of the information with the passage of time or on the occurrence of an event that permits declassification. Information that continues to meet the classification requirements of subsection 2-202 despite the passage of time will continue to be protected in accordance
with this Regulation.

Passing classified information is called treason, and could land you in jail for the rest of your life. However since this administration is above the law, it doesn’t matter to them. – however you try it and see where it lands you.

@Aye: It looks like the assertion that the SEAL Pacs didn’t reflect the opinions of the SEALs who carried out the raid is highly suspect. The SEAL book doesn’t paint a very flattering picture concerning their view of Obama or Biden. Perhaps that was the main concern of the book being published as opposed to leaking classified info, which should have been the main concern. Now we’ll see how Team Obama and its supporters launch personal attacks against those who actually carried out the mission.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/29/navy-seal-book-raises-questions-about-bin-laden-death-report-says/

@another vet:

It looks like the assertion that the SEAL Pacs didn’t reflect the opinions of the SEALs who carried out the raid is highly suspect.

I have said before that regardless of whoever the Democrats can put out there contradicting the SEAL Pac’s message, they don’t really understand that community. It is very, very tight knit. As one would expect such an exclusive community to be. Other armed forces units have similar tendencies. That is, they pal around, both current, ex-, or retired members. They think alike, more often than not.

As such, the most likely situation is that those of the SEAL Pac are speaking not only for themselves, but also on behalf of current Team members, who cannot voice their opinions themselves over fear of professional reprisal.

And honestly, I don’t understand how anyone can have a problem with it. The message is not directed politically. They don’t claim the Democrats are any worse than the GOP on the issue. They are simply taking issue with something that affects their brothers and sisters in arms. My guess is that if Bush had done similarly, they would have spoken out about him as well. That is something the lib/progs don’t seem to understand. To them, it’s all about Obama.

@johngalt:

To them, it’s all about Obama.

You are 100% on the money and it has been that way since day 1.