The Army is getting ready to throw out public affairs Staff Sgt. Ricardo Branch for disclosing in an unclassified government email the same information about the Osama bin Laden raid that former President Barack Obama had revealed in a speech three years earlier, The Washington Times reported.
Branch had reviewed a proposed article by the Boeing Co. for the contractor's internal news service in 2014. The article had mentioned the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), also known as the "Night Stalkers," had visited Boeing. It noted that the aviation inserted the SEAL Team 6 raid that killed bin Laden in Pakistan.
He realized the Defense Department had never officially recognized that role and sent an email to his boss saying the officer should tell Boeing to delete the sentence, the newspaper reported.
And The Washington Free Beacon noted that since Branch forwarded the information, which contained sensitive information, in an unclassified email, an investigation was launched.
Eventually, Branch was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, but his service extension was ended as a result. He now has about a week to convince the Army to reverse the decision and save his career, the Times reported.
And the Free Beacon said: "Branch is being punished for emailing in 2014 the same sensitive information that Obama revealed three years earlier in a publicized speech."
The Times quoted an Army News Service story on Obama's visit to Fort Campbell.
"It was the Night Stalkers who are credited with flying the mission in Pakistan that transported the Navy's SEAL Team 6 on an operation that resulted in the capture and kill of terrorist Osama bin Laden," the story reportedly said.
Now, Branch said he just can't believe what has happened to him and noted the information had been disclosed earlier.
"In 2011 it was on the Army home page," he said. "It makes no sense to dismiss me from service. Policy dictates that anything published on the Army home page has to be properly vetted through various organizations.
"Obama visiting (Fort) Campbell and talking about the bin Laden raid is considered mission and operational security info, (which) means it has to get vetted. It's still on the home page today."
"The Army just doesn't want to take responsibility for the fact that Obama told 2,000-plus Fort Campbell soldiers in a public forum after the private meeting with SOAR," Branch told the Times.
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