Fox News Outs Navy Seal.

[Cutlass]

Fox News Outs The Navy SEAL Who Wrote An Anonymous Book On The Bin Laden Raid

Geoffrey Ingersoll | Aug. 23, 2012, 12:31 PM

Turns out there are leaks everywhere, even among Navy SEALs.

Fox News obtained and released the identity of the author of the controversial new book "No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden," due to come out on the anniversary of 9/11.

"Mark Owen," the pseudonym under which the book was written, is actually 35 year-old Matt Bissonnette of Wrangell, Alaska. Bissonnette held the rank of chief in the elite Navy SEAL Team 6 prior to retiring. He was one of the first men in the room where bin Laden died, witnessing the occurrence first-hand.

We tracked down pictures of Bissonnett on PatriotFiles.com and Flickr.

Bissonnette was also part of the operation which ended with the killing of three Somali pirates in order to save the life of Captain Richard Phillips in the Indian Ocean in 2009.

He co-wrote the book with author Kevin Maurer, a well-versed author of four books, most based on military special operations.

Bissonnette wrote in the book that he wants to "set the record straight" about the bin Laden raid. One can only assume he means in terms of Obama "taking credit."

So there's been a lot of controversy that releasing this book before the election would benefit Obama's reelection. And now Fox has outed the author, which means that they have a Navy Seal and his family now have a death sentence hanging over their heads. Good job Fox

 

[Takhisis]

Hey, wait! It's military secrets! FOX executives should be convicted of sexual harassment and whoever leaked this held in custody for an indefinite time without trial.

 

[choxorn]

But... but... the lamestream media and the demoncrats are the guys who leak info like this! Conservatives would never allow some vital bit of secure info like to leak, right?

 

[JollyRoger]

Kudos to Fox for finally doing some real journalism.

 

[caketastydelish]

While Fox is the most biased news in my opinion, Fox, like any other news company, is just in it for the money.

That's why they released this guys name. Because it would make good headlines. They don't care about the country, or this man and his family.

 

[_random_]

So this would have been a bad thing if Julian Assange had done it, right Fox News?

 

[Thedrin]

If the guy wanted to remain anonymous and he did nothing to forfeit his privacy then revealing his true identity is wrong.

Furthermore spreading his identity by passing on what Fox did is also wrong. Saying that Fox revealed his identity is ok. Revealing his identity because Fox did is not. I would have preferred not to know his identity. I may be in the minority on this, but I think you should edit your post to remove his true identity. It's private, personal information that he wants to keep secret and he has done nothing to deserve the loss of privacy.

Anyone who wants to find out his name/watch celebrity sex tapes/watch Al Queda hostage beheadings will be able to do so because the information is out there, but don't enable them.

 

[dirtyparrot]

Talk about irony. That being said, I hope that nothing happens to the guy.

 

[JollyRoger]

If the guy wanted to remain anonymous and he did nothing to forfeit his privacy then revealing his true identity is wrong.

Would cashing in on a book deal that put his identity at risk count?

 

[Thedrin]

It was written under a pseudonym. Unless writing the book breached some professional/ethical standard, then I don't think that forfeits his privacy.

 

[JollyRoger]

It likely broke Federal law and the guy's contractual obligation with his employer - U.S. taxpayers.

 

[Thedrin]

Then it would be fair to prosecute him in some manner. But if the prosecutors or government feel that revealing his true identity would his family and past associates (former team members) at risk from reprisal attacks, then his identity should remain hidden.

I haven't read anything about this case beyond what I've seen in this thread. I don't know if legal problems have arisen from the writing of this book.

I'd be pretty surprised if he wrote this book so soon after the event without authorisation from former superiors and he should certainly be prosecuted if he has broken the law.

 

[choxorn]

So this would have been a bad thing if Julian Assange had done it, right Fox News?

Even Wikileaks edits out the names of people like this who don't have their identities publicly known for legitimate safety reasons.

 

[capslock]

The guy wrote and published the book, and FOX is blamed for outting secrets....

I thought the Rob Riggle sketch was hilarious, but didn't think it would have any basis in reality. I was wrong.

 

[peter grimes]

Then it would be fair to prosecute him in some manner. But if the prosecutors or government feel that revealing his true identity would his family and past associates (former team members) at risk from reprisal attacks, then his identity should remain hidden.

I haven't read anything about this case beyond what I've seen in this thread. I don't know if legal problems have arisen from the writing of this book.

I'd be pretty surprised if he wrote this book so soon after the event without authorisation from former superiors and he should certainly be prosecuted if he has broken the law.

Let's see if the military gives him the full Bradley Manning Suite. I'm not sure I see a difference here, except that one allegedly did it to set the record straight for the embetterment of humanity and the other did it for a book deal...

 

[Takhisis]

The guy wrote and published the book, and FOX is blamed for outting secrets....

Repeat after me: pseudonym.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Not sure why he is suddenly going to get killed.

 

[JollyRoger]

I don't feel so bad about the book writer, he brought it on himself . . . but by outing him, a little social networking research will get the rest of the team outed.

 

[Takhisis]

You're still putting a target on him for any idiot who wants to 'avenge' Osama bin Laden.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Damm Liberal Media endangering our troops and enabling terrorist with there anti american propaganda.