Navy SEALs punished for revealing secrets to video game

[Dux]

By Mike Mount

Seven U.S. Navy SEALs have been reprimanded for giving up classified information connected to their tradecraft so a video game could seem more realistic, according to a navy official.

The seven were charged with the unauthorized showing of their official combat gear and dereliction of duty for disclosing classified material after an investigation found the seven to have worked as paid consultants for two days with the video game company Electronic Arts, according to a U.S. Navy official familiar with the investigation.

The work, done around the late spring and early summer, was unauthorized by their commanders and against military regulations according to the Navy official.

All seven are active duty members of SEAL Team 6, considered the most elite of the Navy’s SEAL community. CBS News, which first reported this story, says at least one of the members was on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year.

The seven, all senior enlisted sailors, received their punishment Thursday at their base in Virginia. All seven were given a letter of reprimand and their pay taken for two months. The move essentially prevents their chances for promotion and ends their military careers.


Four other SEALs who have since transferred to west coast SEAL teams are still under investigation, according to the official.

The seven members were consulting with Electronic Arts on the game “Medal of Honor: Warfighter,” according to the official. The game touts that it is developed with the help of former and active duty commandos.

"Naval Special Warfare (NSW) takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and conducts investigations to determine the facts. We likewise take seriously the Non-Disclosure Agreements signed by Sailors and adherence to the articles of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice,” said Rear Adm. Garry Bonelli, Deputy Commander of the Naval Special Warfare Center in a statement given to Security Clearance.

"We do not tolerate deviations from the policies that govern who we are and what we do as Sailors in the United States Navy. The non-judicial punishment decisions made today send a clear message throughout our Force that we are and will be held to a high standard of accountability,” Bonelli, said.

The disclosure of the extra curricular activities of the SEALs comes on the heels of recently retired SEAL who was on the bin Laden raid and wrote a book about the operation.

The publication of the book released a firestorm of complaints toward the author by the Pentagon which said the book revealed secret information about how the SEALs operate. Pentagon officials threatened the author with legal action if the book was published.

To date there has been no further action toward the author Matt Bissonette, who wrote the book under the name Mark Owen.

http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/0 ... ?hpt=hp_t3

[WildGorillaMan]

Publicity stunt. I'm sure EA is pleased at the apparent verisimilitude of their "TOP SECRET" game.

[DARTH]

If they were repermanded by the Navy this is not stunt. (But yes I bet the game company is happy as Hell!)

Very stupid of them to do this for a number of reasons.

Trooper, after he retired did consult for a game company but he was not giving out top secret shit and said "They could have saved alot of money and just read a few books."

[Turdacious]

Giving away these secrets should not be tolerated.

[Shapecharge]

Oh for fuck's sake give me a break, giving away secrets, really? So there's some double-top secret way to clear a room or building that every grunt and small town police department hasn't been exposed to yet?

[Andy83]

What Shape said.

[DARTH]

Oh for fuck's sake give me a break, giving away secrets, really? So there's some double-top secret way to clear a room or building that every grunt and small town police department hasn't been exposed to yet?

You know that tactics and equipment might have evolved in the Spec Ops community, where most of the currently known tactics came from in the first place. Maybe they do smaller stacks since stacking can get half the guys in it killed and the other half wounded? Haji has gotten good with explossives, shit evolves so why even give away subtle changes?

Plus they are not suppossed to be talking like that.

Years ago on a MA forum I got in exchange about a certian known CQC instructor and let out that I knew someone that ran something that had this guy train that something.

Well someone saw it and was non to happy with me and it was a time where a mid 30's me felt like he let down his Dad and said too much durring a war. I was tasked to handle the cleansing and did so but man I felt like shit.

Now was it something that was really secret? Kind of but you probably could find it out if you dug and could put 2 and 2 together. Still it was a breach of Op sec about something I knew way to much about.

"It's OK now D. I have had guys with top clearences talk about things at parties and within earshot of those who should never know. Don't do it again."

This is also why space aliens at Area 51 and most 9-11 conspiracy theory is fucking bullshit because even those who know better do talk and if it's shocking or fucks with peoples conscience they scream it.

[DrDonkeyLove]

I don't think it was so much the information that was given out, it was who was giving out the information.

Low level dude, spank his ass. Administration "source", just keep moving on, nothing to see here.

[johno]

If the squids violated OPSEC, they earned punishment. The worser the violation, the harsher the punishment. But it looks like they got a slap on the wrist.

Shit, I still haven't been cleared to mention F***Roping.

[Andy83]

Can you say president Obama. orcommander in chief Obama? I can't.

[The Crawdaddy]

If the squids violated OPSEC, they earned punishment. The worser the violation, the harsher the punishment. But it looks like they got a slap on the wrist.

Shit, I still haven't been cleared to mention F***Roping.

NJP can be a career-ender for all but the most junior enlisted. How is that a slap on the wrist?

They signed a non-disclosure agreement, regardless of classification or how easy it was to figure out what they did from other sources, and darwin worked (the stupid were punished). End of story.

[Batboy2/75]

If the squids violated OPSEC, they earned punishment. The worser the violation, the harsher the punishment. But it looks like they got a slap on the wrist.

Shit, I still haven't been cleared to mention F***Roping.

NJP can be a career-ender for all but the most junior enlisted. How is that a slap on the wrist?

They signed a non-disclosure agreement, regardless of classification or how easy it was to figure out what they did from other sources, and darwin worked (the stupid were punished). End of story.

They will spend the rest of their careers at DEVGRU, right we're they want to be. So they don't make E-6 or7 this year, they are at the top of the Spec Ops pile and probably loving every minute of it. I'd rather be the greenest and newest guy at DEVGRU than any admiral floating on a boat eating off of china plates and being waited on hand and foot.

Real punishment would have been being kicked out of DEVGRU and or off of the SEAL teams in general.

[johno]

What Bats said. I don't know how it is in Squidville, but when anyone fucked up in the Ranger Battalion, they were simply sent "down the road to Legland," where they didn't have any cool toys to play with or any good missions to go on. I knew guys it happened to, and those who clawed their way back said it was hell.

Those guys in SEAL Team Six were already lead dogs in the Alpha Pack. They were never money or promotion oriented in the first place. And now they're legends in the Teams.

A letter of reprimand & loss of two weeks pay is like forbidding me from eating tofu.