US officials checking Navy SEAL raid book for secrets

The controversial account of the killing of Osama Bin Laden is to be published on Sept. 11

By KIMBERLY DOZIER

updated 8/27/2012 4:38:17 PM ET

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WASHINGTON — U.S. officials said Monday that they are reviewing a copy of a soon-to-be-published account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, checking for leaks of classified information.

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Pentagon spokesman George Little said Defense Department officials "received the manuscript and we are looking at it."

CIA spokesman Preston Golson would only say that "the CIA has a copy of the book."

Video: Fallout over Navy SEAL who wrote book about Bin Laden raid (on this page)

The book, "No Easy Day," is scheduled for publication on Sept. 11.

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The author, a former Navy SEAL who participated in the raid, did not submit the book for pre-publication review that is required by the military secrecy agreements officials say he signed.

Pentagon regulations stipulate that retired personnel, former employees and non-active duty members of the Reserves "shall use the DoD security review process to ensure that information they submit for public release does not compromise national security."

Pentagon officials say that if they determine the manuscript reveals classified information about the raid, the Pentagon would "defer to the Department of Justice."

If there is classified information in the book, the former SEAL could face criminal charges.

The publisher says the author intends to give the "majority" of the proceeds to charity, but the Justice Department could still sue to collect any future book proceeds as well.

A special operations advocacy group, Special Operations-OPSEC, which is criticizing President Barack Obama over alleged leaks and making the raid the national security centerpiece of his re-election campaign, asked the attorney general to block the book's release until the government can make sure it reveals no classified information.

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Ex-Navy SEAL in legal jeopardy for book on bin Laden raid

In a letter released to The Associated Press, the group asked the Justice Department "to immediately seek...an injunction in federal court to prevent this book from being published and distributed" until it can be reviewed.

Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd says the department is reviewing the letter.

Dutton announced the book's pending release last week, saying that "No Easy Day" will "set the record straight" on the bin Laden operation.

After the initial burst of publicity, the book shot up to the top of the Amazon.com chart, reaching No. 1 as of late Friday morning and remaining there Monday, displacing the million-selling erotic trilogy "Fifty Shades of Gray."

Video: Fallout over Navy SEAL who wrote book about Bin Laden raid

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>>> this half hour with the fallout from a new book about the raid that killed osama bin laden , written by one of the navy s.e.a.l.s who participated in the mission. "no easy day" is due out on september 11th . it was published anonymously under the pseudonym mark owen . brandon webb knows the author. he is a former navy s.e.a.l. and

author of "the red circle: my life in the navy s.e.a.l. sniper corps and how i trained america's deadliest marksmen." good morning. thank you for coming on with us.

>> good morning, lester.

>> none of us have read this, including the government folks who perhaps would have like to have cleared it. what are your thoughts, your concerns about its release?

>> you know, having known the author, i think that, you know, you have a situation where this book is being heavily marketed as a tell-all, blow-by-blow account, but i think people are going to be surprised when they actually dig into the book and read it, that they're probably -- i would be very surprised if there's any type of sensitive or classified information in the book, because the consequences would just be really severe.

>> i mean, is that the rub, the question of whether there's something sensitive in there, or is there a sense that he's violating really the principles of s.e.a.l.s? i had a s.e.a.l. commander years ago tell me, he says if we do our job right, no one knows we were there, nobody knows we did it.

>> yeah, i think there's a little bit of that, you know. having written a book myself, there is always a fine line between, you know, the timeliness of a book. so you know, there are people in the community that feel probably a little bit betrayed by this, but again, i think this is a situation where a guy's getting out and he's writing a memoir. and i would be shocked if there's anything really revealing, even though it's being hyped up.

>> if he were to write this book ten years from now, would you have as much concern about it as you would the fact that it's coming out so soon after the raid?

>> no, because the problem is, you know, because of the -- because it is coming out so soon, there are a lot more concerns about operational security and other operators that are at risk, you know. even fox news releasing this guy's name creates a situation, a threat chain where, essentially, it does put other people at risk.

>> well, we're not mentioning his name on this broadcast, but i know you know him and you have spoken to him about whether he should write this book. can you tell me about your conversations and what his thoughts were?

>> well, our conversation was almost a year ago, and it was more around just the consequences of writing a book, not necessarily a conversation about operational security and sensitive information . it was more of once you put yourself out there in the public, you know, there are consequences. and you know, in this particular situation, there is a group in the middle east , a terrorist group that's already put a -- come out publicly and put a hit out on this particular individual. so, you know, that guys are knowingly -- you know, this guy knew going into it that that potential existed. so, our conversation was a little bit more around what, just the consequences of putting yourself out there publicly.

>> brandon, as a journalist, i want to know as much about the raid on osama bin laden as i could. at the same time, i have to tell you, i was a bit surprised when it was quickly announced that the s.e.a.l.s and s.e.a.l. team 6 were involved from the get-go, that that kind of information would be released. were you surprised that the government has been as open about the raid as it has?

>> you know, a little bit, but again, you know, we live in a different age today, information age , where if the government doesn't come out and tell the american people what happened in this particular bin laden raid, you've got some 16-year-old in pakistan tweeting about it, and it's just, it's so hard to keep this type of -- the lid on this type of operation. so, i think that the administration's dealing with a lot of that, and that probably it was the right thing to do to come out and give the information the way they did it.

>> all right. we've got to end there. brandon webb , thank you so much for spending time with us this morning. we appreciate it. and thanks for your service.

>> you got it. thank you.

>> the name of brandon's book is

"the red circle: my life in the navy s.e.a.l. sniper corps and how i trained america's deadliest marksmen."

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