Former SEAL Says Missions Shouldn't Be Discussed With The Media
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Dom Giordano talks to former Navy SEAL Tony Sanchez on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT about an upcoming interview from the SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Sanchez disagrees that the SEAL, Robert O'Neill, should even be discussing the mission with the media.
"This should be kept confidential and we shouldn't be talking about it. It feels like there's been a culture shift over the time that I've been gone…There's a part of me that says, look, these guys do deserve some recognition, but like I said, I fall down hard upon the side that these missions need to be kept confidential. We should not be talking about them in a public forum."
He said things are changing since he left the SEALs, and he sees the increased attention they are getting as a negative.
"We see SEALs in a public way, kind of, seeking credit or the spotlight. We've come a long way from where we used to be. That's disappointing. You could say things like social media -- and as a society we've changed -- could be a cause of that. Setting politics aside, I didn't like it when after the raid on bin Laden's compound, our Commander-in-Chief said, you know, 'I did these things.' It was very different from previous Commander-in-Chiefs saying 'we' did this. I don't know what causes the overall culture shift, but we have moved in a direction where you see more and more of this, people using the trident to market themselves."
Sanchez said that, previously, information about missions would never have been released.
"It was all handled internally. We used to handle our own."