U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta (2nd L), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey (R), and Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Robert Hale (L) testify during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee June 13, 2012 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Panetta and Dempsey were on the Hill to testify on the FY2013 budget request of the Defense Department.   Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP
US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta (2nd L), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Martin Dempsey (R), and Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) Robert Hale (L) testify during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee June 13, 2012 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.    — Photo by AFP

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says no unauthorised information was provided to filmmakers producing a movie on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.    

Panetta, the former CIA director, told the Senate Wednesday that there is a Defense Department office that works with movie producers. But he insisted that no one in the department released any unauthorised material.

Republican Rep Peter King of New York has argued that the CIA and Pentagon jeopardised national security by cooperating too closely with director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal.

The two won Academy Awards for the motion picture “The Hurt Locker.”

Last month, King cited 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.

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