Navy SEALs Reprimanded Over EA Participation
posted Friday Nov 9, 2012 by Scott Ertz
Ever since seeing Medal of Honor: Warfighter at this year's Electronics Entertainment Expo, EA has been making a big deal about the participation of real elite soldiers. The game culminates in 12 elite squadrons from ten nations being completely playable in the game, all inspired by the real elites behind the scenes.
As it turns out, the game's research and realism might have gone a little too far. Currently seven Navy SEALs have been reprimanded by the US Navy for revealing classified secrets to Electronic Arts. In addition to the unwanted attention, the SEALs have received official letters of reprimand, killing any chance of promotion. They have also been docked two months pay for the breach.
As of today, it is not known how many of the secrets shared with EA made it into the game, but whether or not the contents of the discussion made it to the game, clearly some high-level secure information was passed on without permission. According to reports, among the information shared was details about weaponry that is exclusive to their unit. Based on the Navy's reaction and the timing of the issue, my guess is those weapons, or at least a portion of them, appear in the game either as playable or intractable in some way.
It would appear that EA's dedication accuracy might just have gone a little too far. The questioning of the SEALs by EA should never have gone so far as to even get close to breaching national security, and the SEALs should have thought more about what they were saying and showing and, therefore, not given any classified information to a videogame company.
Considering this is a national security breach, do you think the punishment of the SEALs is just, or was it just a slap on the wrist? Also, should EA be held accountable at all for getting into this territory? Let us know in the comments.
