By ROBERT BURNS
AP National Security Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - 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 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.
___
AP writers Kimberly Dozier and Adam Goldman contributed to this report.
Copyright
2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
