(Corrects spelling of Morell in paragraph 14)
By Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Documents released by the
Pentagon and CIA shed light on White House officials’ interest
in a Hollywood film project dramatizing the U.S. commando raid
in which Osama bin Laden was killed.
The documents released to Judicial Watch, a conservative
group, under the Freedom of Information Act and made public on
Tuesday include emails between top Pentagon and White House
officials discussing efforts to cooperate with film director
Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal on the bin Laden raid
movie.
Controversy erupted last year when New York Times columnist
Maureen Dowd wrote that the film was supposed to be released
weeks before the Nov. 6 presidential election. The premiere
subsequently was put off until after the election, though film
trailers have been released by Sony Pictures.
Some critics of President Barack Obama, including prominent
Republican members of Congress, have cited the administration’s
cooperation with the filmmakers as part of an alleged pattern of
deliberate national security leaks designed to enhance Obama’s
image as the election approaches. Obama has strongly denied his
White House leaked sensitive classified information.
Documents published by Judicial Watch in May indicated that
Bigelow and Boal, who were behind the Oscar-winning movie “The
Hurt Locker,” had engaged with the CIA and top Pentagon
officials before getting involved with the White House.
The newly released material appears to affirm that, but also
indicates that White House officials wanted to keep tabs on this
and other major media projects about the bin Laden raid.
In a message to Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes
and White House Deputy Press Secretary Jamie Smith on June 15,
2011 – six weeks after the bin Laden raid – Pentagon Public
Affairs chief Douglas Wilson asked for their “guidance” on how
extensively defense officials should cooperate with media
projects about the raid and the Boal/Bigelow film in particular.
“Our overall engagement with Boal and Bigelow to date has
been pretty general,” Wilson wrote. But as the project
progressed, he said, Michael Vickers, the Pentagon civilian in
charge of special operations, and other top officials “would
welcome guidance regarding parameters.”
Wilson said that Boal and Bigelow had been working with both
the Pentagon and CIA on “initial context briefing,” and that
Leon Panetta, then CIA chief, had given his “full
approval/support” for such briefings. He also said that
then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates “shared … admiration for
their previous film efforts.”
In response, Smith wrote to Wilson and Rhodes that she was
not sure “I understood that this was as far along so would
definitely be great to link up and chat soonest and get a sense
of what DoD (Department of Defense) and CIA have communicated
thus far.”
Smith added: “Would also love to know any other folks you
have heard from since we last spoke, or plan to meet with –
books, docus, additional movies etc.”
A minute later, Rhodes added: “We are trying to have
visibility into the (bin Laden) projects, and this is likely the
most high-profile one.”
Wilson later advised a CIA official, and others whose
identities are redacted from the documents, that the Pentagon
would “arrange to bring (Boal) to WH next time he’s here.”
The newly released documents include internal communications
between CIA officials, which appear to suggest that Bigelow met
with a translator who “was on the raid,” and with a person whose
identity was redacted. The same memo mentions meetings the
filmmakers had with other top officials including Vickers at the
Pentagon and Jeremy Bash and Michael Morell, who were Panetta’s
chief of staff and the CIA deputy director at the time.
The CIA declined comment on the documents.
Tommy Vietor, a National Security Council spokesman, said
nothing in the Judicial Watch announcement was a surprise.
“Having a conversation with a journalist, author or
filmmaker about what he or she is working on is possibly the
most basic, mundane function of a press office, and millions of
Americans, including many in government, are understandably
proud of our nation’s effort to kill bin Laden,” he said.
In an email, Boal said that the content of the documents
appeared to be “public affairs finagling … and filmmakers
trying to do their homework.”
According to Judicial Watch, the newly released material
“should have been produced months ago” under a court order, but
the CIA claimed that the documents had been “overlooked” and
were discovered last month. Jill Farrell, a spokeswoman for the
group, said the delays had softened their full impact.
(Editing by Warren Strobel and Stacey Joyce)
