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Leon Panetta: ‘Nothing Inappropriate’ Shared With Filmmakers

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday that “nothing inappropriate” was shared with filmmakers working on a movie about the death of Osama bin Laden.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and other Republicans have criticized the Obama administration in recent days over reports that it cooperated with Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal, who previously worked together on the Iraq War movie “The Hurt Locker.”

King charged this week that the pair received “extremely close, unprecedented and potentially dangerous collaboration” with the White House, noting that documents showed they had access to a commander in the Seal team that killed bin Laden.

But in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” with Jake Tapper, Panetta said the assistance was routine.

“Nothing inappropriate was shared with them,” he said. “You know, we get inquires everyday from the entertainment industry. … And the process that we’ve established is that, you know, we will work with those individuals. We’ll try to make sure that we give them accurate information so that the historic record is protected. But you know, we do not share anything that is inappropriate with anybody.”

Panetta was head of the CIA during the operation that killed bin Laden. He was asked about criticism during the presidential campaign that the Obama administration is boasting too much about the operation.

“Whether you’re Republicans, whether you’re Democrats, whether you’re independents, I think this country ought to be proud of what our intelligence and military community did,” he said. “And you know what, I’ll let history be the judge as to whether or not that was a successful mission.”

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