Pentagon weighs legal options against ex-SEAL author
WASHINGTON — 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 the book actually reveals secrets, a spokesman said today. 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. Bissonnette’s lawyer today disputed this, saying he believes the decorated former SEAL has “earned the right to tell his story.” 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,” Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s top lawyer, wrote in a letter faxed to the author Thursday through his publisher. In response, Robert D. Luskin of the law firm Patton Boggs wrote to Johnson on Friday that his firm is representing Bissonnette and asserting that he is not in breach of his nondisclosure agreements.
