The head of a special operations organization is slamming the White House for handing Hamas terrorists a “huge propaganda win” by doxxing members of an elite Army Special Forces unit operating in Israel.
David Cook, the executive director for the Special Operations Association of America, in exclusive comments provided to the Daily Caller, described the flub as a “horrible” security failure that could destroy the lives and/or careers of those who were outed.
“The risk is high,” Cook told the outlet. “These guys that got pictured, it could ruin their careers. They could put their families in danger. It could put them in danger.”
The White House was first called out on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, for posting a photo to their Instagram account showing President Joe Biden shaking hands with what was described as “first responders.”
Journalist Sam Shoemate posted the image on X, but placed black boxes over the faces of four individuals he described as members of “Delta Force.”
The White House did not obscure the faces in their post, which remained on Instagram for roughly an hour.
Shoemate described the incident as “a massive failure” by the Biden administration.
The Whitehouse media team shared this picture last night (I added the black boxes) without blurring or censoring the faces of the “Delta Force” (CAG) operator’s faces. They deleted it an hour later after hundreds of thousands had already viewed it.
This is a massive failure on… pic.twitter.com/ROegvYWzit
— Sam Shoemate (@samosaur) October 19, 2023
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‘We Regret The Error’: White House Admits Doxxing Special Forces
The White House was widely ridiculed following accusations of doxxing a Special Forces team working in a war zone in Israel.
“So funny that the ‘Adults in charge’ are so on top of things they doxxed one of our most elite fighting forces in the midst of their deployment to the Middle East,” the Republican National Committee’s Alec Sears wrote.
So funny that the “Adults in charge” are so on top of things they doxxed one of our most elite fighting forces in the midst of their deployment to the Middle East https://t.co/z0S3exuqQb
— Alec Sears (@alec_sears) October 19, 2023
“Is the White House really this stupid or are they just trying to get people targeted?” Fox News contributor Sara Carter asked. “This is totally unacceptable.”
Is the White House really this stupid or are they just trying to get people targeted ? This is totally unacceptable…
These operators are required to maintain a level of discretion that this administration has completely disregarded. I would know, my husband is a retired… https://t.co/wUXUoRRNAw
— Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) October 19, 2023
Videomaker Benny Johnson added, “Letting Joe Biden run this country is a national security risk.”
An accurate statement even prior to the doxxing of a Special Forces team.
Letting Joe Biden run this country is a national security risk… https://t.co/DdUaw01RYU
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 19, 2023
For their part, the White House admitted to the huge mistake, but did so issuing a statement that differs very little from a company erroneously sending out an email or mislabeling the cost of one of their products in a sales ad.
“As soon as this was brought to our attention, we immediately deleted the photo,” a spokesperson told Fox News. “We regret the error and any issues this may have caused.”
Oopsie. Our bad.
NEW: The White House admits they accidentally doxxed US Special Forces by posting an uncensored photo of them w/ Biden in Israel.
WH: “As soon as this was brought to our attention, we immediately deleted the photo. We regret the error and any issues this may have caused.”
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 19, 2023
Huge Propaganda Win For Hamas
Cook’s comments to the Daily Caller reveal the gravity of the situation that the White House’s “we regret the error” apology fails to convey.
“I don’t even know what to say. These are horrible operational security failures,” he said.
And while he acknowledged that mistakes of this nature happen from time to time, necessitating an organization like his, it doesn’t take away from the serious nature of what the White House did by doxxing Special Forces soldiers.
And it won’t stop those who intend to inflict harm on Israel and their allies from using it to their advantage.
“Let’s say it was a security detail,” Cook explained. “Hamas isn’t going to delineate that — normal people can’t differentiate between a security detail and boots-on-the-ground, invasion-type stuff.”
Even if they did come to that understanding, there is little doubt the terrorist organization would use the information they glean from the image to their advantage.
“This is a huge propaganda win for Hamas,” he added.
I’m not sure what kind of rank amateurs are running the White House social media page, but this is a mistake that very well can get people killed.
“Oops, sorry” isn’t going to cut it. https://t.co/k1tmkXWfsa
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) October 20, 2023
Cook suggests that the person who took the photo “needs to be held accountable.”
We’re sure they’ll figure that out swiftly and dole out the proper punishment – just like they did with the White House cocaine culprit and the alleged pipe bomber on January 6th.
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