The CIA last week “discovered” a long-sought stash of documents detailing its dangerous — not to say embarrassing — leaks to Hollywood about the takedown of Osama bin Laden.
Despite a court order to come clean, the spooks had “inadvertently overlooked” a 5-inch stack of records showing how closely they’ve worked with the folks behind “Zero Dark Thirty” — a film about the dramatic SEAL Team 6 operation that dispatched the arch-terrorist last year.
It’s no state secret that the White House wanted to see the movie made. It was originally set for release this October — its nakedly political timing meant to burnish President Obama’s national-security record on the eve of the 2012 elections.
But the good-government group Judicial Watch won a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for access to internal e-mails on the subject — meaning the CIA had to divulge everything.
Documents released in May were powerfully revealing: They showed how screenwriter Mark Boal had access to top White House officials and how he and director Kathryn Bigelow were given tours at “The Vault” — the secret CIA site with a mock-up of bin Laden’s Pakistani compound, where most of the tactical planning took place.
That was bad enough.
But it seems the black-bag brigade “overlooked” even more documents.
Oops.
According to a court filing last week, the CIA wants to push back court dates regarding the release of more papers.
Now, it’s a simple rule of spycraft that there’s no such thing as a coincidence.
So how does the CIA explain this episode?
The Agency declined to comment.
But Judicial Watch has a few guesses. “These documents were supposed to be turned over to us two months ago under a federal court order,” said Tom Fitton, the group’s president. “This new ‘discovery’ and resulting delay stinks to high heaven.”
The administration has long been happy to leak details to the press when it helps inflate Obama’s record.
And even happier to give special access to Hollywood to inflate it even more.
Now Team Obama seems to have engineered the revelation of operational secrets of US special forces, which puts operators in danger and makes it all the more difficult to work in the field.
But the minute a good-government group comes calling, the CIA dummies up.
Nice to know it can keep a secret when it wants to.