PENTAGON — A Pentagon official said Tuesday that a former U.S. Navy SEAL revealed classified information in a new book about last year's raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden.
Pentagon spokesman George Little says the Department of Defense has reviewed the book and is concerned about the information that author Matt Bissonnette, a former member of the Navy’s special operations force, or SEALs, has put in it.
“We believe that there is classified information in this book," said Little.
Little gave no details of what secrets had been revealed or what damage the book - No Easy Day - might have caused to U.S. operations. He says officials are exploring possible legal action against Bissonnette, who wrote the book under the pen name Mark Owen.
“We continue to review our options when it comes to legal accountability for what, in our estimation, is a material breach of nondisclosure agreements that were signed by the author of this book," he said.
Officials say the author was obliged under U.S. military rules to submit the text for review before publication.
Bissonnette’s lawyer says the author scrupulously reviewed the work to ensure that it did not disclose any material that would breach his agreements or put his former comrades at risk.
The Pentagon, for now, is not taking any steps to pull the book off the shelves at military bases.
The book went on sale Tuesday.