Gates: Raid Leaks Harm Future Ops

Politico reports:

The amount of information released by the White House about the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound could jeopardize future missions, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Wednesday.

“Frankly, a week ago Sunday, in the Situation Room, we all agreed that we would not release any operational details from the effort to take out bin Laden,” Gates told reporters at a Pentagon briefing, showing some frustration. “That all fell apart on Monday — the next day.”

“My concern is that there were too many people in too many places talking too much about this operation. And we [had] reached agreement that we would not talk about the operational details,” he added. “I am very concerned about this, because we want to retain the capability to carry out these kinds of operations in the future.”

Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, added that retired special operations troops should stop speaking publicly about how Navy SEAL Team 6 carried out its mission.