McRaven: Special ops not tied to film on bin Laden raid

Military News

---

TAMPA — More than a year after commanding the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the man who now runs U.S. Special Operations Command is still dealing with public fascination over a mission he calls not “really very sexy.”

Adm. William McRaven, the nation’s highest ranking SEAL, oversaw the May 2, 2011, raid when he commanded the Joint Special Operations Command. At a press conference he called Thursday morning to talk about international special operations, McRaven was asked to weigh in on a roiling controversy over whether the White House, Defense Department and CIA compromised security by disclosing details about the raid to filmmakers.

Republicans are calling for an investigation into whether anyone had unauthorized access to raid information and whether any lives have been placed in danger as a result.

A conservative watchdog group called Judicial Watch said it obtained documents through a public records request that seem to show the woman who directed the Academy Award-winning The Hurt Locker would be given access to a bin Laden raid mission planner for a long-planned movie about Navy SEALs.

According to Judicial Watch, a meeting transcript states that the Department of Defense provided the filmmakers with the identity of “a guy available who was involved from the beginning as a planner; a SEAL Team 6 Operator and Commander” whose name is redacted in the documents.  

“In proposing the arrangement,” the documents obtained by Judicial Watch state, “Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers said: “The only thing we ask is that you not reveal his name in any way as a consultant because … he shouldn’t be talking out of school. This at least, this gives him one step removed and he knows what he can and can’t say, but this way at least he can be as open as he can with you and it ought to meet your needs and give you lots of color.”

Speaking near the end of his press conference – which focused on how international allies are working together, how operators and enemies use social media and efforts to deter the relationship between drug dealers and terrorists in Colombia – McRaven said neither he nor anyone at the command was involved in the film.

“I have not had any interaction nor has anyone at U.S. Socom had any interaction with the folks making this movie,” said McRaven. “We have not provided any planners … the fact of the matter is we have not done that.”

McRaven said the decision to cooperate with director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal is ultimately “above U.S. Socom.

“However, if asked to do that…we would be happy to provide folks not involved in the raid but could in fact validate any of the facts or misconceptions.”

On Thursday, the Department of Defense released a statement saying the agency “regularly engages with the entertainment industry” but did not provide any access to members of the team that killed bin Laden.

” Engaging on this project was proper and done with a desire to inform, based on unclassified information, about one of the top military and intelligence successes in a generation,” the Defense Department said in the statement.

McRaven said the military has had a long history of involvement with the movie industry. He said he was first enticed to join the military by The Green Berets, a 1968 movie starring John Wayne.

Both Act of Valor and Black Hawk Down, more recent movies, had the cooperation of the military, said McRaven.

Socom spokesman, Col. Tim Nye, said the command is currently fielding seven requests from filmmakers for assistance.

There was “nothing frankly overly sensitive about the (bin Laden) raid,” said McRaven. “We did 11 other raids much like that, in Afghanistan, that night. The guys got into a helicopter, flew to the objective, took down the target, got back into the helicopter and flew home. From a military viewpoint, it was a standard raid and not really very sexy. I wish the Bigelows good luck in making this film. From a military standpoint, it was very straightforward.”