Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund

Peter Bergen, author of Man Hunt: The Ten Year Search for Bin Laden From 9/11 to Abottabad, wrote a critical analysis Dishonorable Disclosures. Bergen wrote that what precipitated the operation going public was not Obama's announcement of the raid but the crash of the Black Hawk helicopter and the arrival of Pakistani journalists at bin Laden's Abbottabad compound soon afterward.[14] Bergen added that U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen had advised Obama that Pakistan's top military officer, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, had asked for the U.S. to go public, persuading Obama to announce the raid sooner than was planned although Obama had initially preferred to wait for 100% DNA confirmation of bin Laden's death.[14] Bergen noted that Obama's speech did not divulge the name of SEAL Team Six, instead saying that a "small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability."[15][14] Bergen wrote that as discussed in multiple news stories, SEALs are the principal Special Operations Forces in the Afghanistan/Pakistan theater, and that "obviously, a mission to take out bin Laden would not be entrusted to any other than these elite units" (referring to SEALs and Delta Force), adding that it remained unclear who first leaked the involvement of SEAL Team Six.[14] Bergen also wrote it was "just plain wrong" that anyone in the U.S. government leaked the name of Dr Shakil Afridi, writing that this information first surfaced in The Guardian in July 2011 after Afridi was arrested by the Pakistani intelligence service.[14] Bergen also wrote that it was entirely Obama's decision, made against the advice of both the vice president and secretary of defense, to launch the raid based on fragmentary intelligence that bin Laden might be there.[14] Bergen also wrote that the United States' use of drones in Pakistan "is one of the world's worst kept secrets," that disclosure of the Stuxnet virus attacks on the Iranian nuclear program had been reported since 2010, and that Iran publicly acknowledged the cyberattack two years earlier.[14][16]

Elizabeth Flock of US News questioned the group's claims to be non-partisan noting that "its ranks are filled with Republicans" and stating that OPSEC "has clearly taken a political side".[17] News reports have described the group's ties to the Republican Party, noting that several prominent leaders of the group are Republicans and Tea Partiers and that it shares an office with a Republican consulting firm and a Republican polling firm.[18][19][3][17][1][20] While the group described itself as nonpartisan, some of its leaders have been involved in Republican campaigns and Tea Party groups.[2] The film's featured former SEAL members include one whose Facebook page identifies him as a spokesman for the Tea Party Express and several Republican campaigns, and OPSEC's president Scott Taylor ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for Congress in 2010.[2] In a 2012 interview with the New York Times, Taylor acknowledged the Republican ties of some members but said that "as many or more (of the film's participants) are apolitical."[2] While the film portrayed President Obama as a "braggart taking credit for the accomplishments of special forces and intelligence operatives," during the video clip of Obama announcing the killing of Osama bin Laden, the portion in which Obama credited the "tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals" was deleted by the filmmakers.[2] In a CNN interview in 2012, Admiral William H. McRaven, a former commander of United States Special Operations Command, said that Obama "shouldered the burden" for the operation, "made the hard decisions," and was "instrumental in the planning process."[2]

The Obama campaign compared it to the discredited "swift boat" smear tactics used against presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004.[2][18][17] A spokesperson said, "No one in this group is in a position to speak with any authority on these issues and on what impact any leaks may have had, and it's clear they've resorted to making things up for purely political reasons."[21] Leaders of OPSEC responded by stating the group is non-partisan and unconnected to any political party or presidential campaign. The military veterans political action committee called VetPAC has said "OPSEC is a shadowy Republican front group," and called their video "dubious" and "silly".[18][19][3][17][1][20] Juliet Lapidos of the New York Times called the OPSEC video "a dishonest hatchet job" and remarked that while the stars of the video presented themselves as concerned citizens with no partisan motivations, their positions were inconsistent with their decision to appear in the video.[22] Military journalist and former Marine, Geoffrey Ingersoll, reported in Business Insider that the video is a partisan effort instead of an effort to protect US troops, saying, "Obama used SEALs to kill bin Laden. Republicans are using them to eliminate Obama."[23]