Thread by @JasonLeopold

Sunday is the 10th anniversary of the operation to kill OBL

Here's the inside story, based on incredible CIA docs I obtained via #FOIA, revealing the CIA's role in helping to produce the controversial movie about the operation, Zero Dark Thirty.
vice.com/en/article/xw3…

The CIA's internal watchdog identified as a potential violation of federal criminal law the bribery of public officials and witnesses by the filmmakers who showered the CIA officers with gifts.

The CIA's internal watchdog documents I obtained said the agency's working relationship with the filmmakers began in 2010, a year before bin Laden was killed.

In the wake of Zero Dark Thirty, CIA completely overhauled its procedures for interaction with the entertainment industry.

It was not easy prying loose these records. I had to sue CIA.

This was a fun story to report with my friend and former @VICENews colleague @KyHenderson

The CIA docs about the movie included a report titled "Alleged Disclosure of Classified Information by Former D/CIA" and a separate September 2013 report from the inspector general's office titled "Potential Ethics Violations Involving Film Producers."

The CIA docs contain remarkable details about how Kathryn Bigelow & Mark Boal spent lavishly to woo CIA officers, how they won unprecedented access to secret details about the bin Laden operation & how they got agency officers and officials to review and critique their ZDT script

CIA's work with Bigelow & Boal, an effort to control the narrative about the Bin Laden operation, took place at a time when the agency's torture program was under scrutiny by Democrats on the Senate Intel Committee

ZDT suggested the use of torture led the agency to bin Laden