The expose on drug use in the SEAL teams was followed up by a written statement that the three SEALs who participated in the CBS news piece prepared themselves, in their own words.  They detail their anger over a promotional video series for the Medal of Honor video game that active duty SEAL Team Six operators participated in, videos in which they discussed secret tactics, techniques, and procedures.  SOFREP has met several retired Delta operators who were also consultants to the MOH video game in question.  When they heard about the video advertisement being made that disclosed tactics the two former Delta operators walked out the door that day, never to return.  The SEAL whistleblowers also point out movies like Act of Valor and Zero Dark Thirty writing, “the highest level of the chain of command have authorized this, even using active duty SEALs and Navy assets. This is shameful and they should be driven from the ranks without benefit of pay.”  Sure enough Act of Valor was a Navy produced recruiting film and Zero Dark Thirty saw the CIA collaborating with Hollywood, not willingly but under orders from the Obama administration.

The SEALs also write that the fame and attention of the teams has, “also attracted scores or millionaires searching for access to SEALs that they can buy time with, creating a literal breed of ‘SEAL pets’ used and exploited by business and the rush for status and credibility. I have heard countless outrageous stories from wealthy men claiming to know the facts about classified missions, tactics, official DoD policies that are absolutely inappropriate for public consumption, not to mention a bit more than far-fetched.”  This is an interesting sub-text as well, one that this author has experienced.  Affluent individuals have out of the blue bragged that they know such and such SEAL Team Six operator or officer.  Some have even told outrageous stories about SEALs involved in “CIA black ops.”  These stories are invented out of whole clothe by the person telling them or by SEALs exaggerating their backgrounds.

Most importantly, the SEAL whistleblowers point out how their command turned into a mafia like organization writing:

What I started seeing, was that when certain guys did something that would have been grounds for separation, there were a handful in leadership positions that saw these guys as easy prey. If the leadership could get the charges dismissed, they had at their disposal someone who owed them and their career, and in exchange, these “Problem Children” would be willing to do anything for them. In this way, they were able to recruit cronies, people who would not question when leaders were taking kick-backs or making decisions based on publicity and notoriety and personal agendas.

This is the very heart of the problem, everything else is just a symptom of the disease.  The SEALs go on to describe how once corrupt commanders had separated the compromised individuals from the straight shooters, they now had a little organization of sycophants who also saw opportunities for corruption, and began giving out sweetheart military contracts to friends who were fellow SEALs.  These unethical deals resulted in the SEAL teams getting sub-standard equipment and training.  “It was becoming something like the show Sons of Anarchy—like a biker gang within the teams,” one SEAL described.

The whistleblowers also describe what a joke NCIS investigations have become.  SEAL Team Six operators who are called in and interrogated by NCIS simply sit in their chair and say nothing to investigators according to SOFREP’s sources.  The investigators have no legal manner to compel them to talk and the operators would see it as “snitching.”  Because everyone has dirt on each other in the unit, snitching is mutually assured destruction anyway.  Years ago, SOFREP’s CEO reported improper behavior to Department of Defense.  The only result was DoD stalking his neighbors and scaring them.  They also leaked his personal information to the press.

The three Navy SEALs who have spoken up deserve a lot of credit for choosing the hard right over the easy wrong.  They literally have nothing to gain and everything to lose by speaking out.  Those who have tried to blow the whistle in the past have been silenced, intimidated, and threatened.  With report after report describing corruption, drug use, unethical behavior, and war crimes emerging, one has to wonder just how much worse it has to get before Naval Special Warfare realizes that they cannot cover these issues up any longer.  In some ways, it is reminiscent of how the military has handled sexual assault to include the Marines United scandal.

The military thinks they can just ignore the problem and it will go away.  Instead, it just gets worse and worse.

Lead image courtesy of DOD, photo by MSG Timothy Lawn