5 Times The Obama Administration Leaked Classified Information

5 Times The Obama Administration Leaked Classified Information

Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images

By:

Michael Qazvini

May 17, 2017

Democrats have short memory spans. As the mainstream media teams up with the political Left to take down Donald Trump’s presidency, it’s worth maintaining some perspective on White House "scandals" as reported by the self-proclaimed gatekeepers of truth.
Much of the self-righteous indignation directed against President Trump is grounded in hypocrisy. When Democrats cry wolf over Trump unduly influencing law enforcement, one can’t help but think of the egregiously corrupt and highly partisan Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch Justice Departments. When Democrats whine about Trump’s "unsympathetic" immigration policy, one can’t help but wonder where the voices of opposition were during former President Bill Clinton's State of the Union speeches.
Now as the MSM goes berserk over reports of Trump allegedly revealing classified information from an ally to Russia, let’s take a trip down memory lane and recall the countless times that former President Obama, the bejeweled darling of the Left, did something that Democrats are now calling "treasonous," "unpatriotic," and "traitorous."
Here are five times the Obama administration leaked classified information:

1. That time Obama’s CIA director leaked top-secret information about Seal Team 6. "In 2011, former CIA Director Leon Panetta revealed top secret information about the Osama Bin Laden raid," reports The Federalist, adding:

Panetta reportedly revealed the name of the Navy SEAL unit that carried out the raid and named their ground commander at a ceremony where “Zero Dark Thirty” writer Mark Boal was in attendance, according to a report by the inspector general at the Department of Defense.
Panetta reportedly assumed all 1,300 people in attendance at the event had adequate security clearances to hear the top-secret information about the Seal Team 6 raid, according to Politico. The report detailing Panetta’s oversharing flies in the face of the Obama White House’s claims they had never shared any classified information with anyone they shouldn’t have.

2. That time an Obama defense official leaked secret information about Israeli military operations against Iran. As Ben Shapiro pointed out, "An anonymous 'US defense source' [leaked] to the Times of London that Israel had cut a deal with the Saudis to use their airspace to strike Iran. The deal [was] scuttled." The official leaked the classified information of key ally Israel in June 2010, just as the Obama administration was gearing up to take a harsher stance against the Jewish State’s settlement building activities.
3. That time a high-ranking official in Obama’s Joint Chiefs of Staff leaked classified information about cyber attacks against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Here’s The Federalist again:

In 2010, Gen. James Cartwright, then vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, allegedly leaked to reporters classified information about cyber attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities. He reportedly shared documents about a highly sophisticated virus used to foil Iran’s nuclear program to members of the media, but there was no outrage from the press about these disclosures.
Cartwright pled guilty last October to giving false testimony to FBI agents about his involvement in the leaks, only to be pardoned by President Obama days before he left the White House. Yet this got very little air time on cable news channels.

4. That time Vice President Joe Biden publicly revealed the highly secret identities of the SEAL Team Six Members behind the Osama Bin Laden assassination operation. The leaks directly endangered the lives of the SEAL members. The Washington Examiner reports on Biden's infamous revelation:

His reckless action put at risk the lives of every member of SEAL Team 6. The Taliban and other jihadists eager to avenge bin Laden now knew which unit to target. Stunned and shocked, SEAL members immediately realized they were going to be hunted by al Qaeda sympathizers.
Karen Vaughn, the mother of slain SEAL Aaron Vaughn, says that within hours after Mr. Biden’s comments, her son called to tell her to wipe away every piece of information regarding the family on social media, Facebook and Twitter. “I never heard Aaron that afraid in his life,” Mrs. Vaughn said in an interview. “He told me: ‘Mom, we’re picking up chatter. We’re not safe. You’re not safe. Delete everything.’”
According to Mrs. Vaughn, Mr. Biden essentially placed a bull’s-eye on her son’s back — and that of all the other SEALs. He leaked classified information. SEAL Team 6 is a covert unit, which is supposed to operate in the shadows. This is how they are able to conduct deadly raids on terrorist groups.

5. All those times the Obama administration leaked classified information about highly dangerous Israeli military operations in Syria. Shapiro notes that on at least two occasions, the Obama administration revealed classified about defensive and counter-offensive Israeli military strikes against Assad:

May 2013: Members of the Obama Pentagon leak information that Israel attacked the Damascus airport to stop a shipment of weapons to terrorist groups. Obama officials actually had to apologize for this leak, since it endangered American lives. They blamed “low-level” employees.
June 2013: The Obama administration leaks specific information regarding Israeli Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile sites. Weeks later, US sources tell CNN that Israel attacked a Syrian installation full of Russian-provided missiles. The same month, “American intelligence analysts” tell the New York Times that Israeli strikes had not been effective. All that information was classified.

Syria is a close ally of Iran. By leaking this information, the Obama administration compromised Israel’s national security, leaving the Jewish State vulnerable to retaliation from Iran, a country that has repeatedly called for the complete annihilation of Israel, and Russia, another key Assad ally.