The Pentagon is considering legal action against a former Navy SEAL whose book describes insider details of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, but it has not made a final judgment on whether it actually reveals secrets, a spokesman said Friday.
Pentagon press secretary George Little said the author, Matt Bissonnette, was deemed to be in violation of two nondisclosure agreements that he signed in 2007 by failing to submit the book for an official security review before it was published.
Little would not say what legal options the Pentagon is considering or when it might take action.
“I write to formally advise you of your material breach and violation of your agreements, and to inform you that the department is considering pursuing against you, and all those acting in concert with you, all remedies legally available to us in light of this situation,” Johnson wrote.
Little suggested that if Bissonnette were to stop the book’s official release, scheduled for next week, that might be a remedy. Some advance copies have been circulating, and the Pentagon obtained one last week. It has since been reviewing it for any classified information and to determine what, if any, legal action should be taken, Little said.
“The onus is on the author,” Little said, while declining to spell out what the author must do.
Little declined to describe the Pentagon’s assessment of the contents of the book, but he later said it had not reached “any final conclusions” about whether secrets were revealed.
The Pentagon’s position was presented Thursday by its top lawyer, Jeh Johnson, in a letter transmitted to the author through his New York publisher, Penguin Group (USA)’s Dutton imprint.
Johnson said Bissonnette’s nondisclosure agreements obliged him to “never divulge” classified information.
“This commitment remains in force even after you left the active duty Navy,” Johnson wrote. He said the author left active duty “on or about April 20, 2012,” which was nearly one year after the May 2011 raid.
By signing the agreements, Bissonnette acknowledged his awareness, Johnson wrote, that “disclosure of classified information constitutes a violation of federal criminal law.” He said it also obliged the author to submit his manuscript for a security review by the government before it was published. The Pentagon has said the manuscript was not submitted for review, although it obtained a copy last week. The Associated Press purchased one on Tuesday.
The Pentagon has not revealed how it got its copy.
In his letter to Bissonnette, Johnson noted that “copies of the book have apparently already been released.” He added, “further public dissemination of your book will aggravate your breach and violation of your agreements.”
Johnson said that after reviewing a copy of the book, “No Easy Day,” the Pentagon concluded that the author is in “material breach and violation” of the agreements, but did not say explicitly that the book reveals secrets.
Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement Friday that all who are entrusted with classified information are obliged to protect it.
“Whether it is administration officials or special forces operators, national security leaks are wrong and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible,” King said.
A special operations advocacy group, Special Operations-OPSEC, which has criticized President Barack Obama for alleged White House leaks and for making the bin Laden raid a national security centerpiece of his re-election campaign, said the author should be held to the same standard as others in protecting secrets.
“However, the Obama administration is applying a dishonorable double standard with a lightning quick threat to prosecute a five-time winner of the Bronze Star while dragging its feet in identifying and charging senior administration officials who have purposefully leaked classified information,” the president of the group, Scott Taylor, said Friday.
Johnson addressed his letter to Mr. “Mark Owen,” using quotation marks to signify that that this is the author’s pseudonym.
Bissonnette referred requests for comment about the letter to his publisher, which was not immediately available.
The Pentagon did not release copies of the nondisclosure agreements that it said Bissonnette had signed in 2007. A spokesman, Army Lt. Col. Steve Warren, said they were being withheld because they include the author’s real name and his signature.
In his book, Bissonnette wrote that the SEALs spotted bin Laden at the top of a darkened hallway and shot him in the head even though they could not tell whether he was armed. Administration officials have described the SEALs shooting bin Laden only after he ducked back into a bedroom because they assumed he might be reaching for a weapon.
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AP writers Kimberly Dozier and Adam Goldman contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
