After Leak, Rep. King Demands 'Zero Dark Thirty' Disclosure Report

After a draft report of a Defense Department internal investigation showed former CIA chief Leon Panetta incidentally revealed secret information in front of a "Zero Dark Thirty" filmmaker, Rep. Peter King today sent a letter to the Secretary of Defense demanding the final version of the report be released "immediately."

"I demand the immediate release to Congress and the American people of the results of the DOD IG's [Inspector General's] review of illegal disclosures of classified information to Hollywood filmmakers," King (R-New York) said in a letter to Secretary Chuck Hagel and in an identical letter to the Defense Department's Principle Deputy Inspector General Lynn Halbrooks. "These security breaches compromised special operations capabilities which protect our Homeland, and endangered our servicemembers and their families."

King called for the IG report in August 2011 following media reports that Hollywood director Katherine Bigelow and writer Mark Boal had been given unprecedented access to American intelligence and special operations personnel and information for their research on the decade-plus-long hunt for Osama bin Laden -- the final product of which would be the "based on first-hand accounts of actual events" film "Zero Dark Thirty."

An undated draft version of the IG's report, obtained and published by the Project on Government Oversight earlier this week, details communications, mostly by email, between the filmmakers, the Defense Department, the CIA and the White House.

It also discusses the June 24, 2011 award ceremony at CIA headquarters to recognize those who contributed to the bin Laden operation. At the ceremony, then-CIA Director Panetta identified the unit that took on the mission and revealed the name of the commander on the ground, even though Boal, a civilian, was in the large audience, the report said. Special operations personnel from the Defense Department, who were also in the audience, "were all 'universally… surprised and shocked' that a Hollywood executive attended this CIA Headquarters awards ceremony," the report says.

It had been reported months before that the Navy's SEAL Team Six was responsible for the mission, even down to the specific squadron, but the commander's name has not been disclosed publicly.

The draft report does not accuse Panetta of any wrongdoing and notes he had not been interviewed at the time of the draft's creation. A source close to Panetta told ABC News the CIA chief was not aware there was anyone in the room that had not been cleared for the secret information. The source also stressed the draft report was just that, a draft, and did not necessarily represent the IG's final conclusions.

Another portion of the draft report focuses on Boal's interactions with Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Mike Vickers and Vickers' work to put Boal and Bigelow together with U.S. Special Operations Command. It was during one of the meetings between Vickers, Bigelow and Boal that Vickers reportedly revealed the name of a special operations planner for the bin Laden mission, an allegation previously reported by ABC News. Top officials at the Special Operations Command had offered to allow the filmmakers to meet the planner, but explicitly asked his name not be shared. The meeting with the planner never took place, the IG's draft report says.

The report references the relatively small role played by the White House beyond "green lighting" the Defense Department to proceed with their discussions with the filmmakers and saying in June 2011 that the White House "does want to engage with Mark [Boal] but it probably won't be for a few more weeks." The White House did not discuss with the Defense Department, for instance, the advisability of providing filmmakers access to special operations personnel, it says.

It also says that no precautions had been taken "to prevent the compromise of [Defense Department] special operations TTPs [tactics, techniques and procedures]," but none had been exposed at the events covered in the report.

When Vickers' alleged disclosure came to light last December, allegations also arose that the Inspector General's office was delaying the release of the report in deference to Panetta's then-upcoming retirement. A senior Defense official said at the time that was incorrect.

"It's wrong for anyone to suggest the investigation has been held up for political reasons or to avoid embarrassment," the official said then. "The investigation simply hasn't concluded. These things often take time."

Almost six months later, the report still has not been officially released and a spokesperson for the IG's office told ABC News they do not have a projected date of completion.

"We are working diligently to complete the project as soon as possible," the spokesperson said, declining to comment on allegations of political pressure. In his letter to Hagel, King reminded the military chief that "any pressure placed upon DOD IG personnel, to prevent or prohibit them from carrying out or completing their investigation, would violate the Inspector General Act of 1978."

After "Zero Dark Thirty" was released in January, Panetta said it was "great," but he would have preferred to have been played by Al Pacino, rather than James Gandolfini.

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Judge: Zimmerman witnesses must testify publicly

Ben Kruidbos, an IT worker from the state attorney's office, testifies during a hearing for George Zimmerman, in Seminole circuit court, in Sanford, Fla., Thursday, June 6, 2013. A judge denied a defense request to let a handful of witnesses testify confidentialiy during Zimmerman's trial for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman is pleading not guilty, claiming self-defense. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank, Pool)

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — A Florida judge denied a defense request Thursday to let a handful of witnesses testify confidentially duringGeorge Zimmerman's trial for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin.

Defense attorney Mark O'Mara asked that the witnesses be allowed to testify out of the public eye because of concerns for their safety about testifying at the trial, which starts next week. He said their testimony could impact the jury's decision.

Prosecutors and attorneys for media groups objected to the request.

Circuit Judge Debra Nelson also heard testimony about whether a voice recognition expert will be allowed to testify at the trial. Cries for help can be heard in the background of 911 calls that Zimmerman's neighbors made during a struggle between the neighborhood watch volunteer and Martin before the unarmed teen was shot. Experts have reached mixed conclusions about whose voice is crying for help.

FBI voice expert Hirotaka Nakasone, who was testifying for the defense, said there wasn't enough clear sound on the 911 recording to determine whose voice it was. He also said the concept that individuals have unique voice-prints that could identify them was misleading.

"No one can speak in the same way twice," Nakasone said.

Testimony was to continue Friday and the judge didn't issue a ruling.

Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, claiming self-defense, in the racially charged case. A delay in Zimmerman's arrest led to protests nationwide. Martin was black. Zimmerman's father is white, and his mother is Hispanic.

The trial is expected to last more than a month.

The judge also considered a request from defense attorneys to sanction prosecutors for what the defense said amounts to withholding evidence. Zimmerman's attorneys alleged that prosecutors withheld deleted photos and text messages that came from Martin's cellphone. An attorney for a technology worker in the State Attorney's Office testified that he first brought the evidence to the attention of Zimmerman's attorneys after he was contacted by the technology worker.

The judge decided to suspend further testimony on sanctions, and any decision, until after the trial.

In a new ad, Bloomberg continues to hammer the New Hampshire Republican for her vote against expanded background checks

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's gun control nonprofit is ramping up its campaign against Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), releasing a new ad accusing her of misleading constituents about her stance on gun background checks.

Bloomberg's group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, is dropping $400,000 to run the ad, called "False Alibi", in the Manchester, N.H., and Boston media markets. The ad comes one month after MAIG spent $650,000 on adsslamming Ayotte's "nay" vote on the Senate's bipartisan background check bill.

In the 30-second spot, Scott Knight — a police chief in Chaska, Minn., and a prominent gun-controlactivist — claims that Ayotte falsely presented her support of a separate gun measure as proof she supported expanded background checks. In fact, that bill would have weakened those restrictions.

"Senator Ayotte uses her vote for this law as an alibi to claim she is tough on crime," he says in the ad. "Don't be fooled."

The ad is the latest in an escalating tug-of-war between Bloomberg and the National Rifle Association, which has launched its own ads — albeit at a much smaller price tag — to defend Ayotte.

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When mighty Danube floods, Europe is shaken

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The mighty Danube is not the only river in Europe bursting its banks this week, but it packs the biggest punch.

Winding 2,850 kilometers (1,777 miles) across 10 nations, theDanube is the second-longest river on the continent, making its way from Germany's Black Forest to the Black Sea bordering Romania and Ukraine. Only the Volga in Russia is longer.

In the last decade alone, the Danube has been at the center of two major floods, several devastating droughts and a winter cold snap that froze the vital waterway for hundreds of miles. Its bridges have been bombed by NATO, its waters have been temporarily poisoned by toxic chemical spills, and yet it still provides drinking water for millions.

Immortalized by Johann Strauss in his "Blue Danube" waltz, the river is closer now to a murky green. From fishermen in prehistoric times to modern industries, many have harnessed its power for energy and transport, while derivatives of its present name go back to Celtic, Roman and Thracian times. It has inspired works by musicians as diverse as classical composer Richard Wagner, American satirists Spike Jones and his City Slickers and even the German industrial metal band Rammstein.

This week, however, the Danube is in its bad-boy mode.

The river reached heights not seen in over 500 years in the German city of Passau before surging downstream to crash through a levee in the southern village of Deggendorf. Dozens of village residents had to be airlifted to safety Wednesday by helicopters. On Thursday, the river smashed through another levee, engulfing entire neighborhoods in the same village.

"We would have risked our lives had we stayed at home," Deggendorf resident Hans Loefflmann said, adding that he and his wife had to leave all their valuables behind when the floods gushed into their house within minutes.

Those living in Passau, meanwhile, were glum, facing football fields of mud, uprooted trees, demolished cars and flood-wracked furnishings to clear away.

At least 16 people have died in the flooding of the Danube and Elbe rivers in central Europe this week and at least four others are missing. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in the region, including over 700 in the eastern German city of Dresden, where the Elbe crested Thursday at 7 meters (21 feet) above normal levels.

For residents of Budapest, the Danube River is a source of pride and wonder, its waters providing an imposing setting for the city it divides in two — Buda on the right bank and Pest on the left. But now the Hungarian capital is now in a state of emergency, bracing for the river's raging floodwaters, which have already caused havoc upriver in Germany and Austria.

The Danube is normally around 370 meters (400 yards) wide as it passes the city's imposing Hungarian parliament building. Now its waters are lapping at the back steps of the neo-Gothic structure and cover large sections of the heavily used roads on both sides of the river.

Authorities are confident that the Budapest embankments, which date to the 1870s, will withstand the Danube's current assault, expected to peak here on Monday. Yet several hundred guests at hotels on low-lying Margaret Island, a popular park in the river, have already been evacuated.

"I had to find another place for my running routine, but at least here in the city the walls on the river are high," said Monika Pele, a physical education student who usually jogs around Margaret Island. "Actually, the Danube is beautiful when it's this wide."

Hungarians are well aware of the destruction the Danube can cause. A flood in 1838 killed more than 150 Budapest residents and left at least 50,000 homeless. Memorial plaques high on city walls, some hundreds of meters (yards) from the river, indicate just high the waters rose.

In the Austrian capital of Vienna, the Danube peaked Wednesday at levels above those of the 2002 floods that devastated Europe. The city's extensive protection system held, however, although the highway to the airport was temporarily inundated.

Floods are not the Danube's only problem.

A severe drought hit the region in 2011, stranding 80 big cargo ships on the Danube at the Serbia-Hungary border and causing sunken German World War II-era ships to break the surface of the water. In Romania that year, the Danube's water levels were so low there was concern about not having enough water to cool the reactors in the nuclear power plant in Cernavoda, which produces 20 percent of the country's electricity.

In 2003, another lengthy dry spell caused by a lack of rainfall and high temperatures lowered the Danube's levels so much that the river had to be dredged in Romania to allow hundreds of stalled barges to pass.

Last year, a deep freeze produced huge ice chunks and froze over hundreds of miles (kilometers) in the Danube, paralyzing the shipping of raw materials, coal, grains and other goods.

Natural disasters have alternated with man-made calamities to threaten the river and those who depend on it.

The 1999 bombing of several bridges over the river in northern Serbia by NATO forces during the Kosovo War paralyzed shipping on the waterway. It was years before the debris was hauled out of the river and navigation fully restored.

In 2000, the Danube suffered a bout of cyanide poisoning, when a spill at a Romanian gold mine flowed into its tributaries. The toxic waste killed off most of the fish and plants along stretches of the Tisza River in Hungary. Although most of its power was diluted by the time it reached the Danube, some measurements showed concentrations of cyanide at 50 times over the maximum levels.

Another spill in 2010 of red toxic sludge — a byproduct of aluminum production at a plant in western Hungary — killed 10 people after flooding three towns and reached the Danube through tributaries. Fortunately, the highly caustic waste was greatly diluted by the Danube's abundant flow.

Now, Hungarian authorities are making sure the red sludge tragedy isn't repeated in the town of Almasfuzito, which sits on the Danube just across from Slovakia and has its own red-waste reservoir.

Zoltan Illes of the ministry of rural development said there would be round-the-clock surveillance at the 74-hectare (184-acre) reservoir until Saturday, when the flood threat is expected to pass.

"Building a red sludge reservoir on the shores of the Danube was a very bad decision made decades ago during the communist regime," Illes said after visiting the site. "Since we don't have a time machine, it's a fact we have to live with."

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Floodwaters surge into Dresden, northern Germany

A traffic sign flooded by river Elbe stands in the water in Dresden, eastern Germany, Thursday, June 6, 2013. Heavy rainfalls cause flooding along rivers and lakes in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)

DRESDEN, Germany (AP) — The surging Elbe River crested Thursday in the eastern German city of Dresden, sparing thehistoric city center but engulfing wide areas of the Saxony capital.

Residents and emergency crews had worked through the night to fight the floods in Dresden. The German military and the national disaster team sent more support in a frantic effort to sandbag levees and riverbanks as floodwaters that have claimed 16 lives since last week surged north.

"Everybody's afraid but the people are simply fantastic and sticking together," said Dresden resident Silvia Fuhrmann, who brought food and drinks to those building sandbag barriers.

The Elbe hit 8.76 meters (28 feet, 9 inches) around midday — well above its regular level of two meters (6 1/2 feet). Still, that was not high enough to damage city's famous opera, cathedral and other buildings in its historic city center, which was devastated in a flood in 2002.

Germany has 60,000 local emergency personnel and aid workers, as well as 25,000 federal disaster responders and 16,000 soldiers now fighting the floods.

Farther downstream, the town of Lauenburg — just southwest of Hamburg — evacuated 150 houses along the Elbe, n-tv news reported, as the floodwaters roared toward the North Sea.

In the south, the Bavarian city of Deggendorf was hit by a third levee break on Thursday, with floods gushing into neighborhoods. Scores of homes remained underwater and authorities warned that a dam was still in danger of bursting.

"It's indescribably bad," Bavarian governor Horst Seehofer said upon visiting the area. "It's beyond comparison."

In Halle, some 30,000 residents were urged to evacuate as the Saale river reached its highest level in 400 years.

In nearby Bitterfeld, meanwhile, authorities were trying to find ways to lower waters threatening the city, after blowing open two levees failed to lessen the pressure on flood defenses.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a visit to Bitterfeld, promised swift help to those hit by the floods.

"I think you can rely on everything humanly possible being done," she said after meeting soldiers working to pile up vast walls of sandbags.

The Institute for Economic Research, a private think tank based in Cologne, has estimated that the floods could cost over €6 billion ($7.9 billion) in Germany alone.

Many Germans have been taking to social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter to offer assistance, from helping fill sandbags to caring for pets whose owners had to leave their homes due to the floods.

In the Czech Republic, firefighters said some 700 Czech villages, towns and cities have been hit by flooding in the last few days and some 20,500 people had to be evacuated. In the country's north, the water in the Elbe reached its highest level overnight and began to recede Thursday.

In the Slovak capital of Bratislava, the Danube was still rising from the record levels it reached a day earlier, but authorities said protective barriers have held firm so far.

So far, the floods have killed eight people in the Czech Republic, five in Germany, two in Austria and one in Slovakia.

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David Rising in Berlin and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this story