Did Obama reveal classified information to sleazy Hollywood war merchants in exchange for propagandist election boost?

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New intrigue over U.S. role in bin Laden film
Newly released letters from the Pentagon and the CIA indicate they will examine their cooperation with Sony Pictures Entertainment and director Kathryn Bigelow on a forthcoming bin Laden film.
(By Seattle Times news services) --

WASHINGTON — Until it achieved its objective, the raid that killed Osama bin Laden was one of the best-kept secrets in the history of Washington. Whether the Obama administration later went too far in spilling secrets about the operation to Hollywood is getting a look.

Newly released letters from the Pentagon and the CIA indicate they will examine their cooperation with Sony Pictures Entertainment and director Kathryn Bigelow on a forthcoming bin Laden film.

At issue is whether the filmmakers — Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, who both won Oscars for their 2009 Iraq war movie, "The Hurt Locker" — were given access to classified information about the mission that ended in bin Laden's death. While newspapers and magazines have published detailed accounts about the May raid, much remains unknown to all but a few.

The planned film has potential political implications. Sony moved its release date into 2013 amid concerns that the original October 2012 release could boost Obama's prospects one month before the presidential election. The bin Laden raid is widely viewed as a political plus for Obama, who sent Navy SEALs to kill the al-Qaida leader at his Pakistan compound even though the CIA could not say with certainty he was there.

The Pentagon and CIA letters were sent to Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, in response to his calls for an investigation into whether the Obama administration had given filmmakers "top-level access to the most classified mission in history."

King's interest was aroused last summer, when New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote that "the moviemakers are getting top-level access to the most classified mission in history from an administration that has tried to throw more people in jail for leaking classified information than the Bush administration."

Boal, Dowd wrote, "got welcomed to the upper echelons of the White House and the Pentagon and showed up recently — to the surprise of some military officers — at a CIA ceremony celebrating the hero SEALs."

When King first raised the issue in August, administration officials scoffed, noting the White House and other federal agencies routinely work with authors, filmmakers and others to ensure they have access to accurate information. A National Security Council spokesman called King's claims "ridiculous."

Months later, the Pentagon, at least, is being a little less dismissive. "We plan to begin subject investigation immediately," Patricia Brannin, the Pentagon's deputy inspector general for intelligence and special-program assessments, wrote in a memo that King emailed to reporters...MORE...LINK