Navy SEAL Faces Criminal Investigation over bin Laden Book

The Navy SEAL who wrote a firsthand account of the Osama bin Laden raid is facing criminal investigation for potentially revealing classified material in his book. This SEAL, going under the pseudonym Mark Owen, wrote the book No Easy Day back in 2012, and explained at the time, “This book is not political whatsoever. It doesn’t bad-mouth either party, and we specifically chose September 11th to keep it out of the politics.”

His lawyer said a few days ago that the criminal investigation pertains to whether he had disclosed classified information, but according to The New York Times, investigators may also be looking into paid corporate speeches he gave.

The Justice Department opened the investigation a few months ago and have spoken with Owen and others in the intervening time. The book was never vetted by the Pentagon, which Owen had previously apologized for. His upcoming book No Hero will be vetted by the Pentagon.

[h/t TIME]
[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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