FOXNews.com: Pentagon to consider legal action against ex-SEAL author of bin Laden raid book

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Pentagon to consider legal action against ex-SEAL author of bin Laden raid book Aug 31st 2012, 00:28 WASHINGTON –  The Pentagon's top lawyer has informed the former Navy SEAL who authored a forthcoming book describing details of the raid that killed Usama bin Laden that he violated agreements to not divulge military secrets and that as a result the Pentagon is considering taking legal action against him. The general counsel of the Defense Department, Jeh Johnson, wrote in a letter transmitted to the author on Thursday that he had signed two nondisclosure agreements with the Navy in 2007 that obliged him to "never divulge" classified information. 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. Johnson said the department is considering pursuing against him "all remedies legally available to us." Former SEAL Matt Bissonnette's firsthand account contradicted in key details the account of the raid presented by administration officials in the days after the May 2011 raid in Abbotabad, Pakistan, that killed the Al Qaeda leader, and raised questions about whether the SEALs followed to the letter the order to use deadly force only if they deemed him a threat. 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. Military experts said Wednesday that if Bissonnette's recollection is accurate, the SEALS made the right call to open fire on the terrorist mastermind who had plenty of time to reach for a weapon or explosives as they made their way up to the third level of the house where he hid. Bissonnette wrote the book, "No Easy Day," under the pseudonym Mark Owen as one of the men in the room when they killed bin Laden. The book is to be published next week by Penguin Group (USA)'s Dutton imprint. The Associated Press purchased a copy Tuesday. In an interview scheduled to air Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," Bissonnette said the book was "not political whatsoever" and not timed to influence the upcoming national elections. He said it was to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and credit those whose work made the mission to get bin Laden a success. "My worry from the beginning is, you know, it's a political season. This book is not political whatsoever. It doesn't bad-mouth either party, and we specifically chose Sept. 11 to keep it out of the politics. If these -- crazies on either side of the aisle want to make it political, then shame on them." CBS said Bissonnette was disguised and his voice altered for the interview. The network used only his pseudonym and not his name. In a statement provided to the AP, the SEAL author says he did "not disclose confidential or sensitive information that would compromise national security in any way." The book does include information not previously reported about specific CIA officers' involvement in the raid.

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