Judicial Watch Files Motion Demanding CIA Turn over Bin Laden Movie Documents

by Tony Lee 

Judicial Watch on Wednesday filed a motion in reaction to the Justice Department asking a U.S. District Court judge to give the government until August 24 to turn over recently-discovered CIA documents concerning the Obama administration’s collaboration with producers of “Zero Dark Thirty,” a movie about the Osama bin Laden killing.

Judicial Watch, through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, obtained documents in May that revealed senior Obama administration officials “worked closely” with producers and screenwriters of "Zero Dark Thirty." 

The Justice Department requested in its motion an extension of time because it claimed the CIA would not be able to complete its review of the newly-discovered documents until August 24. 

According to its own motion, Judicial Watch informed the Justice Department on July 20 that “a motion for extension of time based on failure to comply with deadlines was improper,” and it suggested the government turn over the CIA documents to Judicial Watch on July 27.  

In the motion, Judicial Watch argues that the government said Judicial Watch’s request was “impossible” but “failed to explain why the document review and production could not be sufficiently expedited, particularly in light of Defendant CIA’s failure to properly produce” those documents in the first place. 

“[The government] still [has] not explained why a full month is required to review the recently discovered documents which this Court ordered be turned over to [Judicial Watch] over two months ago,” Judicial Watch wrote in its motion.             

Judicial Watch also argued that the CIA “failed to conduct an adequate search within the Court’s imposed deadline for the production of all responsive documents,” and that failure “does not in itself constitute proper grounds for an extension of time.”

Judicial Watch, while asking for the motion to be denied because of a lack of a justification for an extension of time, nonetheless proposed a modified schedule -- for the convenience of the Court -- as an alternative course of action. 

Judicial Watch, in the motion, requested the CIA “produce any additional responsive, non-exempt documents to” Judicial Watch before August 10 or notify Judicial Watch by August 17 “of any challenges to any withholdings from the newly-produced records...”  

Not able to run on a poor economic record, the Obama administration has resorted to leaking sensitive national security secrets to mainstream journalists and Hollywood screenwriters to boost Obama politically.

The contents of the new CIA documents may expose how far Obama’s White House is willing to go -- in compromising national security secrets -- to boost Obama's chances at getting reelected.