US Navy SEALs punished for working on Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Members of the military force accused of revealing secrets to game developers

Posted on Nov 9, 2012 - 3:24pm EST

Seven members of US Navy SEAL Team Six on active duty have been disciplined for revealing classified information while working on Medal of Honor: Warfighter game, reports GI.

The SEALs worked as paid consultants on Medal of Honor: Warfighter. Four other SEALs based on the West Coast, who are still on active duty, are also under investigation for allegedly disclosing classified information.

"We do not tolerate deviations from the policies that govern who we are and what we do as sailors," said Gary Bonelli, deputy commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command. "The non-judicial punishment decisions made today send a clear message throughout our force that we are and will be held to a high standard of accountability."

The seven SEALs who have been disciplined received letters of reprimand, which will be placed in their personnel files, and were docked half of their pay for two months. Such a letter of reprimand will effectively kill any chance for future promotions, and may well force them out of SEAL Team Six.

The nature of the information that the SEALs disclosed was not stated, but according to the report they used classified material given to them by the Navy while working as consultants. It is not clear if any classified information was actually used in the game.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter sold just over 300,000 units in its first week in the US, significantly below analyst expectations. The game was released on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.