Game Over.
Seven members of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, including one involved in the mission to get Osama bin Laden, have been punished for disclosing classified information to the makers of a video game, according to reports.
Each received a letter of reprimand and have to forfeit part of their pay for two months.
Officials did not reveal exactly what secrets they leaked to Electronic Arts, the producers of “Medal of Honor Warfighter.”
But the deputy commander of naval special warfare, Rear Adm. Garry Bonelli, said the move was intended to make an example of the SEALs after other leaks, NBC News reported.
“We do not tolerate deviations from the policies that govern who we are and what we do as sailors in the United States Navy,” Bonelli said. He alluded to the importance of honoring nondisclosure agreements that SEALs sign.
He said the punishments this week “send a clear message [SEALs] will be held to a high standard of accountability.”
SEALs have been uncharacteristically prominent in the news.
Matt Bissonnette, who participated in the Osama raid and later retired from the SEALs, wrote a firsthand account under the pseudonym Mark Owen, landed in hot water with the Pentagon even before it was published in September.