Oscar winning director Kathryn Bigelow, center, stands on the sets during the shooting for her upcoming film about Osama bin Laden in Chandigarh, India. -AP Photo

WASHINGTON: A House committee chairman charged Wednesday that the CIA and Defense Department jeopardized US security by cooperating too closely with filmmakers producing a movie on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.    

Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, a Republican, first raised questions about the bin Laden movie last summer, but said newly released documents confirm his suspicions.

The filmmakers are director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, who won Academy Awards for the motion picture ''The Hurt Locker.''

King referred to documents obtained by Judicial Watch in a Freedom of Information Act request. He said the filmmakers received ''extremely close, unprecedented, and potentially dangerous collaboration'' from the Obama administration.

Judicial Watch said the documents show that the Defense Department granted Bigelow and Boal access to a ''planner, operator and commander of SEAL Team 6'', the unit that killed bin Laden in Pakistan.

Other documents, Judicial Watch said, show that the filmmakers met with White House officials on at least two occasions about the film. A CIA email indicates that Bigelow and Boal were granted access to ''the vault,'' which is described as the CIA building where some of the tactical planning for the raid took place, Judicial Watch said.

Pentagon press secretary George Little disputed some of the allegations, He said that while a planner was suggested as a possible point of contact for information on the Osama bin Laden raid, a meeting between that planner and the filmmakers never occurred.

He said the Defense Department engages on a regular basis with the entertainment industry on movie projects, and the goal is to ''make them as realistic as possible. We believe this is an important service that we provide.''

Little added that Pentagon officials did meet with producers of the film but said, ''We have never reviewed a script of the movie.''

Little also denied that the cooperation was an attempt to boost President Barack Obama's election chances, and said the movie would not be out until after the election. There was no immediate comment from the CIA or the White House.

Opinion

Editorial

Return to the helm
Updated 28 Apr, 2024

Return to the helm

With Nawaz Sharif as PML-N president, will we see more grievances being aired?
Unvaxxed & vulnerable
Updated 28 Apr, 2024

Unvaxxed & vulnerable

Even deadly mosquito-borne illnesses like dengue and malaria have vaccines, but they are virtually unheard of in Pakistan.
Gaza’s hell
Updated 28 Apr, 2024

Gaza’s hell

Perhaps Western ‘statesmen’ may moderate their policies if a significant percentage of voters punish them at the ballot box.
Missing links
Updated 27 Apr, 2024

Missing links

As the past decades have shown, the country has not been made more secure by ‘disappearing’ people suspected of wrongdoing.
Freedom to report?
27 Apr, 2024

Freedom to report?

AN accountability court has barred former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife from criticising the establishment...
After Bismah
27 Apr, 2024

After Bismah

BISMAH Maroof’s contribution to Pakistan cricket extends beyond the field. The 32-year old, Pakistan’s...