It was an event that garnered so much attention, it’s now being used as a politic punching point in the 2012 Presidential election — the day six Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden. When something as monumental as this moment happens, people are bound to write books about it. But when one of the SEALs writes it himself, it’s not easy for the Pentagon to overlook.
According to The New York Times, the Pentagon is considering taking legal action against Matt Bissonnette, the SEAL who penned the now bestselling book No Easy Day under the pseudonym Mark Owen. The Pentagon says Bissonnette breached confidentiality agreements by releasing information about the top-secret attack on and killing of Osama bin Laden without the Pentagon’s permission.
Bissonnette’s lawyer claims the author sought legal advice before publishing the book and that there was no information released in the book that would have breached nondisclosure agreements. His lawyer even goes so far as to say such agreements do not apply to this book, as Elisabeth Bumiller Julie Bosman explain.
The letter also said that the book was not subject to the nondisclosure agreement that the Defense Department said was violated. That agreement applied only to “specially identified Special Access Programs” that did not include the subject matter of the book, Mr. Luskin wrote.
While I’m dying to read the book, I can’t imagine there will be absolutely no legal consequences to having published it. Frankly, I was shocked that one of the SEALs himself made a point of publicly disclosing any information about the mission. I fear it could put the Pentagon and other SEALs in danger, but then again, I don’t know until I read it. What do you guys think?
Lara's Book Club 