The Virginian-Pilot
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After members of Navy SEAL Team 6 expressed concerns for the safety of their families, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Thursday that measures could be taken to "pump up the security."
The SEALs, based at Dam Neck Annex in Virginia Beach, performed the commando raid last week that killed Osama bin Laden at his Pakistani compound.
Gates said the threat of retaliation has increased as international interest in the covert operations team has placed a spotlight on the unit after operational details, which were going to be kept secret, were released the next day.
"The one thing I would tell you," Gates told a meeting with about 1,000 Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C., "... is that I think there has been a consistent and effective effort to protect the identities of those who participated in the raid, and I think that has to continue."
"We are very concerned about the security of our families - of your families and our troops, and also these elite units that are engaged in things like that."
The secretary's comments were released by the Defense Department after questions from the group touched on the death of bin Laden.
"When I met with the team last Thursday," Gates said of SEAL Team 6, "they expressed a concern... particularly with respect to their families... I can't get into the details in this forum, but we are looking at what measures can be taken to pump up the security."
Lauren King, (757) 446-2309, lauren.king@pilotonline.com
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Idiots
Our civilian leadership just had to spout off the name of the group that carried out this mission. After that it became a feeding frenzy with the media. Like a bunch of kids trying to one up each other they just had to let detail after detail of where this unit is based, what they do and on and on out.
The success of these units is their anonymity and stealth. They are not glory seekers. They are professionals that keep our country safe. I just wish that our so called civilian leadership and the media could have simply kept their mouths shut.
Idiots. Just pure and simple.
What you see here, what you hear here, let it stay here when you leave here.
Ok now Biden, go write that on the chalk board a few thousand times. Idiot.
very well said russ!!!!
eom
What if
What if the President was a Navy Seal and the SpecOps commander blurted out about how his team performed killing Bin Laden. Would he be worried about his family and himself being a target for terrorists? Why couldn't all of them just simply said he was killed by special forces!
Here is what I think.....
They say we "fear"...., Correction, "bring it on" or we are "Concerned"...., correction "prepared". All of our veterans, including these brave men fight for our freedoms w/their blood, sweat, BS w/political correctness & sometimes, media slander. Now that our babies are home... "we are ready to return the favor of protecting them" Move on, nothing here to see..... unless someone does something pretty stupid & knowing how our Military is w/protecting the U.S. Constitution, again.... "Bring it on; no fear or concern here in our back yard." Who knows, maybe the seals are up north...somewhere else..."huuummmm" I am just saying, "they could be anywhere.... you will never see them comin"! Good Job boyz; what a story to tell the grand kids!
what in the world?
what in the world?
Censor The Media
It is long past due to censor the media. Their "news" should be screened before its broadcast or printed. A good example...Desert Storm ..when US troops went into Kuwait, the locals knew we were coming before we got there because CNN was camped out on the beach waiting for us to get there. If you ask me, the words Seal Team Six should never have hit any airwaves or print media. Do it like they did in WW 2 or Korea. We are at war with these terrorists please shove a gag in the mouths of all the media. With the internet, and Google you can find out just about anything, well almost anything. What the heck is Obama security policy anyway? Oh and gag Biden, now.
I agree that way too much
I agree that way too much information was put out on this...but who is supposed to gag the media when it's the gov't that is feeding them the info? It's not like they came across secret documents and publicized them, or had some dark, secret, anonymous source...the blabbermouths were sitting on the very top of the hill in broad daylight.
I agree, the blame does not
I agree, the blame does not lie with the media...the information about who carried out the mission was released very quickly...we barely had time to wonder, "who", when it was put out there...by the government. Far better would it have been to have just said, Special Forces/Operations (I still dont know what the difference is!). I also think the information about the ship he was taken to should not have been made public, although Ii doubt that information would have been kept under wraps for too long. There have certainly been many instances of the media acting irresponsibly with respect to our military troops, but in this case, it's not fair to blame them for info they were offered up readily.
ems2009
I agree to a point, however, the media needs to display quite a bit more discipline when it comes to reporting.
Gag
How about the media gagging itself, you know it's called common sense and being responsible.