Leon Panetta's Dog Is Better at Keeping the CIA's Secrets Than David Petraeus

The defense secretary owns a golden retriever — code name: Bravo; real name: Bravo — who, besides witnessing first-paw the CIA's plans to hunt down Osama bin Laden, is way better at keeping secrets than the disgraced former CIA chief.

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Defense Secretary Leon Panetta owns a golden retriever — code name: Bravo; real name: Bravo — who, besides witnessing first-paw the CIA's plans to hunt down Osama bin Laden, is way better at keeping secrets than disgraced former CIA chief David Petraeus, reports Bloomberg.

Long known as "the most powerful dog in DC" (as opposed to the most powerful dog in the world, which would be Bo Obama), Bravo was privy to precise details of the Navy SEAL's 2011 raid in Abbottabad. The auburn-furred dog, Panetta remarked at the National Press Club today, freely darted in and out of offices, including Panetta's, where the raid was being planned, and "sat in on almost all of the meetings involving the operations against bin Laden."

Although actual human beings are responsible for leaking the details of Osama bin Laden's capture and death to the makers of Zero Dark Thirty (which comes out today), blame has never, ever fallen on Bravo's air-tight muzzle. Panetta: "To this day, [Bravo] hasn’t told a damn soul what happened."

That's not just because Bravo can't speak because Bravo is a dog. Indeed, Bravo is capable of literally sniffing out other leakers. Witness:

Speaking of leaks, a touchy subject here at the Pentagon, Panetta joked that Bravo was there to sniff them out.

In fact, Bravo did take a moment to study the shoes of CBS' esteemed Pentagon reporter David Martin.

Nothing to see, or smell here.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.