Despite Pentagon warning, publisher won’t back down

Account of bin Laden killing still set for sale Tuesday

WaSHiNGTON — The publisher of an insider account of the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden said Friday that it will begin public sales next week despite a Pentagon warning of possible legal action.

“At this time, we see no reason to change our plans,” said Christine Ball, a spokeswoman for the publisher, Penguin Group (USA)’s Dutton imprint.

Before the Pentagon’s warning, Dutton had moved up publication to Tuesday from Sept. 11, saying that it was “important to put ‘No Easy Day’ on sale and let the book speak for itself.” Preorders for the book have catapulted it to No. 1 on Amazon’s best-seller list.

It was highly unlikely that the government would try to halt publication of the book, considering that a limited number of advance copies are already in the public domain and media reports have summarized the book’s contents.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said the book’s author, ex-SEAL Matt Bissonnette, was in violation of two nondisclosure agreements that he signed in 2007 by not submitting the book for an official security review before it was published.

Bissonnette’s lawyer, Robert Luskin, disputed that Friday, saying he thinks the decorated former SEAL has “earned the right to tell his story.”

Little wouldn’t say what legal options the Pentagon is considering or when it might take action. The Pentagon obtained an advance copy last week and has since been reviewing it for any classified information and to determine what, if any, legal action should be taken, Little said. He declined to say whether the Pentagon had found any classified information in the book.

Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon’s top lawyer, notified Bissonnette on Thursday that the Pentagon thinks he is in “material breach and violation” of two nondisclosure agreements and of a related document he signed upon leaving active duty in April 2012.

In a letter faxed to Bissonnette through his publisher, Johnson warned that “the Pentagon is “considering pursuing against you, and all those acting in concert with you, all remedies legally available to us.”