http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/29 ... k-20120830Pentagon reviews ex-Navy SEAL's book about Osama bin Laden raid
The Defense Department and CIA consider legal action against the former SEAL, author of 'No Easy Day,' for failing to submit the work for a security review.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon and CIA are reviewing a forthcoming book by a retired Navy SEAL who was on the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and they are considering legal action against the author for failing to submit his account for security review, officials said.
U.S. intelligence officials are scrutinizing "No Easy Day" by former SEAL Matt Bissonnette to see if it reveals sensitive sources and techniques or operational details, a process that could take weeks.
The book, due to go on sale next week and already on bestseller lists, has sparked a fierce debate in the close-knit special operations community about whether the long-standing ethic to stay silent for those who carry out America's most sensitive military operations is breaking down after a decade of war.
PHOTOS: The death of Osama bin Laden
Several U.S. officials who have read the book said it apparently does not quote from clearly classified documents, such as intelligence reports about Bin Laden's whereabouts or after-action reports about the raid. Even so, the officials conducting the review are examining closely whether special operations tactics possibly useful to insurgents might be disclosed.
The account is the first by a member of SEAL Team Six, which carried out the stealthy nighttime assault on Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Bissonnette writes that he was ascending a staircase in the dark when a SEAL ahead of him opened fire at Bin Laden as he peeked out of a second-floor doorway, according to the Associated Press, which obtained a copy of the book. The SEALs discovered Bin Laden lying in a pool of blood and fired several more times until his body stopped moving, the book claims.
Several details in his account differ slightly from those offered by administration officials in the hours and days after Bin Laden's death. Some officials said at the time that Bin Laden was killed when it appeared he might be reaching for a weapon.
Bissonnette's book comes days after another group of former special operations members launched a harshly worded website and released a short film criticizing President Obama for what they said was his administration's exploitation of the raid for political gain.
Last week, Adm. Bill McRaven, who heads Special Operations Command, said he was "concerned about the growing trend of using the special operations 'brand,' our seal, symbols and unit names, as part of any political or special interest campaign."
Noting that every special operator signs an agreement not to disclose classified information, McRaven wrote that "if the U.S. Special Operations Command finds that an active duty, retired or former service member violated that agreement … we will pursue every option available to hold members accountable, including criminal prosecution, where appropriate."
Bissonnette, 36, who had been awarded five bronze stars, left the military last summer. He had not served long enough to qualify for a pension, which could make it more difficult for the Pentagon to punish him — if it decides to do so — by withholding benefits, officials conceded.
So far, Republican members of Congress and others who sharply criticized Obama and his aides for releasing details about the raid to the public, to authors and to a pair of Hollywood filmmakers, have been largely silent about a first-person memoir by a former SEAL who took part in the attack.
Scott Taylor, a former SEAL who left the military in 2005 and is a founder of a group critical of the Obama administration, called Bissonnette a "hero," however. In a telephone interview, he said "a pervasive culture of leaks" had probably encouraged Bissonnette to write his account.
"Certainly operation security protections apply to everyone up and down the chain of command, but this book probably would not have been written" if the Obama administration had not encouraged the idea that disclosure of details about the raids was acceptable, Taylor said.
It is the latest in a series of popular books, films and media accounts about elite commandos that have offered unprecedented glimpses of a world that long operated in secrecy. To what extent the disclosures have damaged national security — or were simply part of a public relations strategy — is unclear.
With copies of the book already circulating, the government has little chance of keeping secret any sensitive details it contains. But officials said they are considering a Justice Department lawsuit against Bissonnette for failing to comply with the requirement to submit the book for review.
"We're considering our options," said Army Lt. Col. James Gregory, a Pentagon spokesman.
Any attempt to punish Bissonnette could create a political minefield for the Obama administration, however. The White House could face criticism for going after a former SEAL when senior officials have largely escaped scrutiny.
I really hate the idea of saying that a genuine hero, a guy who earned five Bronze Stars should face punishment, including possible criminal prosecution for his account of an operation he took part in, but that's really the way I'm leaning....
If he didn't disclose classified information, then why couldn't he have complied with the legal obligation he freely undertook to submit any book he wrote for Pentagon review, to assure that did not happen?
Maybe he didn't reveal anything classified, or that could endanger operations. Maybe he didn't meet his legal obligation to submit the book for a security review just as a demonstration of defiance and contempt.
That wouldn't make it okay.
I am one of those who has been outraged and appalled by the series of leaks, (some relating to the Bin Ladin raid, as well as others about the procedures for the selection of drone targets, and probably worst of all, the leaks about the mole we got into Al Qaeda which foiled a plane explosion plot.) that have clearly come from someone with a high enough security clearance to have access to some highly sensitive information, who was attempting to help Obama politically.
The investigation in to this so far has been a complete joke. It's obvious that it is Holder's intent to hold a lid on this through the election, as it has been dragging on for months.
When you think about it logically, there's really no reason for a real investigation to take that long to get to the bottom of this, if it were made a priority. There can only be a set number of people who had a high enough security clearance to have access to the information that was revealed, and who would have had a motive to want to help Obama politically. You get these folks, (from the White House, the Pentagon, the NSA, the CIA, the campaign etc....it won't be that many people total, because it has to be somebody fairly senior.) you strap them up to a lie detector, and you could sort this out in a couple of days.
It's overwhelmingly obvious that the Administration is in no particular hurry to get the bottom of this, and it's perfectly understandable why. If it turned out to be somebody really close to the President, (like say, David Axelrod for example) it could have a devastating effect on one of Obama's few bright spots, (his record on national security) and be the final straw that costs him the election.
(Of course it will be much worse if it turns out that in addition to the leaker being someone like Axelrod, the White House then engaged in an operation to cover this fact up....but politicians rarely seem to learn that lesson....)
But all of that having been said....
That does not justify giving a pass to anyone else (even someone like this soldier, for whom I have an enormous amount of respect) to decide to become a law unto himself where national security is concerned.
This part was particularly troubling to me:
If that's the thinking that's behind this...."Certainly operation security protections apply to everyone up and down the chain of command, but this book probably would not have been written" if the Obama administration had not encouraged the idea that disclosure of details about the raids was acceptable, Taylor said.
That misconduct on the part of someone senior regarding the release of secret information relating to national security sources and methods makes it "open season" for people lower in the food chain to do the same thing, then it needs to be nipped in the bud, and an example needs to be made to put a stop to it.
And then an even bigger example needs to made out of whoever was responsible for the initial politically motivated leaks.
