Lawmaker: Probe White House involvement in Osama bin Laden film

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) has called for a federal investigation into allegations that White House officials are providing Hollywood filmmakers with “top-level access” to information surrounding the successful mission that killed 9/11 terrorist Osama bin Laden.
 
King, who is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, released a letter on Wednesday that he sent to the inspector generals of the CIA and the Defense Department requesting an investigation and a classified briefing into the matter.
 

In King’s letter, he references an opinion column written by The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd over the weekend, in which she states that acclaimed movie director, Kathryn Bigelow, has been receiving “top-level access to the most classified mission in history from an administration that has tried to throw more people in jail for leaking classified information than the Bush administration.”
 
Bigelow and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. are reportedly working on a film about the killing of bin Laden, which is slated for an October 2012 release.
 
King pointed to several comments that senior military officials publicly made in the days after bin Laden’s killing, in which they highlight the importance for continued secrecy and silence on the details of the mission. King also said that members of Congress and the American public should be granted access to the information if filmmakers are allowed to see it.
 
“This alleged collaboration belies a desire of transparency in favor of a cinematographic view of history,” wrote King.
 
King is asking the inspector generals to investigate whether the film will be reviewed by the military and CIA before its release, and whether CIA agents and special-forces officials have had their cover blown or tactics compromised because of the alleged collaboration with the filmmakers. 

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