Seven Navy SEALS Reprimanded For Consulting On Videogame

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Seven members of an elite U.S. Navy SEAL team have been reprimanded for disclosing classified material while consulting on Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

All seven were punished in an administrative proceeding for disclosing classified information and misusing command gear while working with the game makers, who advertise that the videogame is more accurate because of the help they had from special operations forces.
 
Not sure what they can tell us that would endanger missions.
 
hahaha..


More accurate.

Maybe their 3d models will look more accurate, but they will - unless they fundamentally redesign that POS game compared to previous games in the series - have soldiers that run at 35mph, and snap to position and fire in no time at all.

Not to mention the ultra realistic "orange camo" skins, etc. etc.


No thanks to "Call of Modern Battlefield: Halo: Online" It's all junk.
 
I enjoyed the single player for the MoH, although with the campaign only being about four hours long means I wont be buying anymore games in this series.
 
So it is OK for the White House to reveal information about special forces tactics but when a few regular joes help make a game a little more realistic they get the book thrown at them.

Probably has to do with whether or not the dissemination of information was cleared PRIOR TO the cooperation or not.

You can provide as much information you want to the outside, as long as you get it properly cleared and approved first.

Sounds to me like these guys didn't go through official channels.
 
Chances are they provided information on tactics and strategies that, if put into a game, would be a serious security breach. That would allow your enemies to develop strategies to combat yours. In return, it would endanger the lives of the soldiers that go out on missions.

So yes, I would definitely understand how it would be a problem.
 
Not sure what they can tell us that would endanger missions.

Plenty. They might disclose how SEALS operate, how they train for missions, how they respond and what tactics they use in missions. They might disclose locations of their missions, or what circumstances certain events take place. All of which can give enemies an advantage in knowing what SEALS have been up to and how they operate, allowing them to better prepare or thwart future SEALS operations. And that is just a few things off the top of my head.

So it is OK for the White House to reveal information about special forces tactics but when a few regular joes help make a game a little more realistic they get the book thrown at them.

There are several things at work here. First, there is the possible disclosure of classified information be it specific ops info or tactical information. Second, there is the issue of whether they declared and were approved for secondary employment. It says they were paid consultants, that needs to pass through government oversight and regulations. Third there is the integrity of the forces. Things they may have said or done while employed by another group may reflect poorly upon the service. All of these are very real and serious concerns to the armed forces and government agencies as well.
 
Heard about this on NPR this morning, these guys are in some serious shit. Probably will lose their careers over it.
 
I hear a lot of "oh this can't hurt or possibly cause harm," yadda yadda all over the net. My guess is most of those people never were in the military or worked with/around sensitive data, classified documents, etc. It's not a joke. What these folks did was up there on the shit list pretty high in the military. Stuff isn't classified all willy-nilly for no reason.
 
Stuff isn't classified all willy-nilly for no reason.

True, its often classified for all kinds of stupid reasons. It might be embarrassing or disprove published 'facts'. It might go against current government policy or simply be illegal.
 
I agree with you in principal about Classified Information. People who leak classified information should be prosecuted and those that release TS data should get the death sentence.

That being said, the SEALS in this case did not go to NJP for releasing classified information. The primary charge was having an outside job and the secondary was displaying some custom items. Items that you and I can purchase from the manufacturer ourselves.

If they had released classified info they would have been prosecuted in a military court, not at an NJP.

Again the primary charge was having an unauthorized job. I know many service members that have part time jobs that did not seek permission to get those jobs and the chain of command knows about it. Guys working at Home Depot on the weekends and so forth.

The point that these guys went to Captain's Mast for having an off duty job is proof enough that someone had it in for them and is making an example or whatever.
 
True, its often classified for all kinds of stupid reasons. It might be embarrassing or disprove published 'facts'. It might go against current government policy or simply be illegal.

or it could endanger the lives of the brave men and women who serve to protect you and your rights, mr tin foil hat. :rolleyes:
 
or it could endanger the lives of the brave men and women who serve to protect you and your rights, mr tin foil hat. :rolleyes:

Well said sir.

While I do see both sides of this, as others have mentioned, these rules are in place for a reason. Soldiers know this and they know the risk taken in circumventing the rules. They didn't clear this with anyone and I think that says it all right there.

I would like to thank these men for protecting our rights, however rules ARE rules.
 
what a load of shit. cant believe they would reprimand the seals for something so insignificant.



i am sure terrorists organizations are using medal of honor to hunt for navy seal tactics. what a joke.
 
what a load of shit. cant believe they would reprimand the seals for something so insignificant.



i am sure terrorists organizations are using medal of honor to hunt for navy seal tactics. what a joke.

SEALs have to follow the rules they are given.
 
So does this mean their next mission is to kill all the developers?
 
Yeah, I played the multi player as well and it felt very uninspired like the previous MoH title.
 
I find it strange that the guys would not know what they're allowed to share and they're not. If I was a high-profile game studio and asked for assistance from the army, I'd check that everything was in order before the game was launched. The risk otherwise would be too high, if the government decided to seize the game in the name of national security.
 
It didn't help that they used their issued equipment as part of the consulting...
 
I have a good buddy of mine that I have known for over a decade that used to be an Army Ranger/Special Ops and helped quite a few Taliban meet their 72 virgins. He told me many stories but nothing classified. I asked him many times what keeps these soldiers quiet on classified issues or methods and he said that 1. They would face disciplinary action including losing their hard earned pensions 2. Any tactical, training or classified information release publicly puts our soldiers lives at risk.
 
Chances are they provided information on tactics and strategies that, if put into a game, would be a serious security breach. That would allow your enemies to develop strategies to combat yours. In return, it would endanger the lives of the soldiers that go out on missions.

So yes, I would definitely understand how it would be a problem.

And this is why i fully support the commanders decisions and this sends a message to all people that serve and have served do not give out information on tactics and strategies to a game developer.
 
So no big deal when this administration does it? :rolleyes:

Presumably the administration went through official channels, and scrubbed the information provided prior to going ahead.

It's pretty evident these guys didn't.

It's all about HOW you do something. If you follow official channels you don't get in trouble.
 
If SEAL shoe size is deemed classified by command, its not at the SEAL's discretion to obey it

Regardless of the scale of a classified leak, it should be charged as treason
 
do you think the larger words make your point valid?
That's how the armed forces work. The handling and disclosure of classified information isn't "insignificant": military personnel are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement when they're given clearance to top-secret level information. These SEALs should be very grateful that they were only given reprimand.
 
I think we all are in agreement that people who release classified information should be severely punished.

In this instance NO CLASSIFIED INFORMATION was released. This article links to a reuters article that references a CBS video. If you read and listen carefully, they were not charged with releasing classified information. If they had released classified information they would have went to Court Martial instead of NJP, Non Judicial Punishment. The CO of the unit decides what to do with limits placed on punishment in NJP.

Again they were primarily charged with having an unauthorized part time job ( the consulting) and they were accused of misusing gear that was issued to them.
 
The main article linked in Steve's post which doesn't have the statement from the DOD, though, which discusses the disclosure of the classified information(also, court martial would mostly apply to releasing classified information to enemies, like the case with Bradley Manning):

A non-judicial punishment hearing was conducted yesterday, Nov. 7 and seven Naval Special Warfare (NSW) personnel faced administrative proceedings. An additional NSW investigation is ongoing to determine if more personnel may be involved.

They are being charged with violation of Article 92: Orders violation, misuse of command gear and violation of Article 92: Dereliction of duty, disclosure of classified material.

Two Senior Chief Special Operators and five Chief Special Operators received the punishment. They received a punitive letter of reprimand and forfeiture of ½ month's pay for two months.

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/8/3620806/navy-seals-disciplined-medal-of-honor
 
The main article linked in Steve's post which doesn't have the statement from the DOD, though, which discusses the disclosure of the classified information(also, court martial would mostly apply to releasing classified information to enemies, like the case with Bradley Manning)
inb4 "Advanced Warfighter was a lousy game because its production was secretly a Chinese ploy to learn more about U.S. Armed Forces tactics" tinfoil-hat rants
 
Disclosing CLASSIFIED INFORMATION is a very, very serious offense in the military profession.

Except Top Brass do it themselves a lot in the public with information that is supposed to be kept private.

-Deployment dates
-Return dates
-Deployment locations
-Mission
-Who is going

It happens ALL the time, hell Family groups usually know more about when you are leaving and coming back more often than anyone in your company does. And then they say we need to practice OPSEC with such and such, and two days later all of the information is on Local news.
 
I am not a American, but I think it is Universal, those who serve get payed shit.

Not sure what my statement has to do with anything in this thread, but it breaks my heart when I see the living conditions of those that make our lives possible.

Just saying
 
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