"No Easy Day," an ex-Navy SEAL's firsthand account of the raid that ended Osama Bin Laden's life, which was released on Tuesday, is said to contain classified information that could endanger other special operations servicemen, officials at the Pentagon announced this week.
The Pentagon would not elaborate on what kind of information was disclosed in the book by Matt Bissonnette, who penned it under the pseudonym Mark Owens. The book is still under official review by the Pentagon and Department of Defense Press Secretary George Little has said that the book represents a "material breach of nondisclosure agreements that were signed by the author."
"When you have special operations units that perform these missions, there are tactics, techniques, and procedures, not to mention human life, that are in play," Little said. "And it is the height of irresponsibility not to have this kind of material checked for the possible disclosure of classified information."
The Pentagon has threatened legal action against Bissonnette for failing to submit the book to the Pentagon for pre-publication review to determine whether the information revealed is classified. Bissonnette's lawyer disputes that he was legally mandated to submit the book for review.
Bissonnette's co-author Kevin Maurer said in a statement on Tuesday that Bissonnette was "meticulous about adhering to his desire to never do anything to undermine the SEALs mission or put his former colleagues in harm's way."
The book was slated to be released on September 11th but due to the controversy and hype surrounding the book's content the release date was moved up to September 4th. According to Little, the Pentagon didn't try to halt the release of the book until its official review process was over because there just wasn't enough time.
"Pre-release copies of the book were already being circulated," Little said. "So the practical effort of requesting that the publisher withhold the release of the book just wasn't an available option."
Readers can only speculate as to what parts of the book may be deemed classified, but it is known that Bissonnette's version of the raid leading to Bin Laden's death differs from the "official" White House version.
The White House maintains that when the SEALs first spotted Bin Laden that he was standing in a hallway reaching into a bedroom, possibly to obtain a weapon when he was shot. According to Bissonnette, Bin Laden was shot as he was standing in the middle of the hallway, unarmed.