The case involved a determination by investigators of the Pentagon’s inspector general’s office that Vickers provided the makers of the film “Zero Dark Thirty” with the restricted name of a U.S. Special Operations Command officer who helped plan the May 2, 2011, raid on bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan, one official said. Vickers, a former Army special forces operator and onetime CIA paramilitary officer, is the top intelligence adviser to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and oversees the Pentagon’s vast intelligence operations. The official said that "Vickers is one of America's top defense and intelligence professionals who has closely guarded secrets for decades, and is highly respected in the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community." “When it comes to even the slightest hint that there may have been an unauthorized disclosure of classified information, there’s actually little choice but to contact Justice,” a senior defense official said. Documents released in May, after the conservative government watchdog group Judicial Watch obtained them through the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that in a July 14, 2011 meeting, Vickers told the filmmakers he would provide them with the name of a "planner, SEAL Team 6 Operator and Commander." They reached that conclusion, however, without interviewing any White House officials or Panetta, who was the CIA director at the time of the bin Laden raid. King asked the inspectors general to examine whether there had been any consultations between White House, Defense Department and CIA officials on providing the filmmakers access to SEAL team members or undercover CIA officers.
– Michael Vickers, a senior Defense official rumored to be a possible replacement for David Petraeus at the CIA, has been referred to the Justice Department after Pentagon investigators concluded that he leaked restricted information about the Osama bin Laden raid to Zero Dark Thirty filmmakers, two senior US officials tell the Miami Herald. Vickers, the Pentagon's undersecretary for Intelligence, gave filmmakers the name of a member of SEAL Team Six who helped plan the raid—though not, ABC News reports, one of the SEALs who actually conducted the raid. But so far, the Justice Department has declined to prosecute. Vickers is Leon Panetta's top intelligence adviser, and it's not clear whether the matter will hurt his shot at the CIA directorship. One senior defense official says it's simply "a routine practice" to refer issues like this to the Justice Department, and adds that Pentagon officials doubt the case "will amount to anything," particularly since a 2011 conversation in which Vickers talked to the filmmakers about the SEAL, mentioning him by name, was deemed unclassified by the Pentagon. The Pentagon says its investigation into possible leaks related to the film is still ongoing. It was launched at Rep. Peter King's request, but his office hadn't been notified of any findings by this week. King says that "raises the question" of whether the delay was for political reasons. The Herald suggests it may have been an effort not to hurt the president's re-election chances, while ABC suggests it was to avoid embarrassing Panetta before he retires.