The Pentagon says a new book by a former Navy seal on the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden contains classified information, an allegation that could expose the author to prosecution.
The Defence Department has already threatened legal action over No Easy Day, which went on sale this week, but had previously stopped short of saying whether the book had revealed state secrets.
Spokesman George Little says sending the book in for review prior to publication was a simple matter of common sense, and a no-brainer for anyone working on national security operations.
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He reiterated the Pentagon's view that the author violated non-disclosure agreements he signed before retiring that required him to submit his first person account for review by the military before publication.
A top US officer in charge of elite SEAL units added yesterday that some troops are cashing in on their "celebrity" status.
"I am disappointed, embarrassed and concerned," Rear Admiral Sean Pybus, head of US Special Warfare Command, wrote in a letter to troops, obtained by AFP.
"Most of us have always thought that the privilege of working with some of our nation's toughest warriors on challenging missions would be enough to be proud of, with no further compensation or celebrity required," he wrote.
The former Navy commando wrote No Easy Day under a pseudonym, Mark Owen, but has been identified in media reports as Matt Bissonnette.
In the book, published by Penguin's Dutton imprint, he describes his role in the famed raid on bin Laden's Pakistani hideout as well as other operations in Iraq and Afghanistan during his 14-year career as a Navy commando.
Last week, Bissonnette's lawyer offered a rebuttal to the Pentagon, insisting the author had not broken faith with his commitments and that the non-disclosure agreements did not apply to the bin Laden operation.
