Credit: ABC News
The Navy is investigating whether a
former SEAL who claimed on national television that he shot Osama bin Laden may
have revealed classified information about the raid.
In November, Robert O’Neill appeared
on Fox News Channel to discuss his role in the raid that killed bin Laden on
May 1, 2011 in Abbotabad, Pakistan.
"The Naval Criminal Investigative
Service (NCIS) is in receipt of an allegation that Mr. O'Neill may have
revealed classified information to persons not authorized to receive such
information,” said NCIS Public Affairs Officer Ed Buice in a statement to ABC
News. “In response, NCIS has initiated an investigation to determine the merit
of the allegations."
Details of the investigation were
first reported Tuesday by The Daily Beast.
It is unclear how long the
investigation has been underway and who allegedly received the recipients of
the classified information he may have provided about the raid.
 |
| Robert O'neill |
In November, O’Neill appeared on Fox
and gave an interview to the Washington Post where he discussed his role in the
raid and claimed that he had fired the fatal shots that killed bin Laden. The
special operations news website SOFREP.com reported at the time that O’Neill
was the SEAL who identified himself as “the Shooter” in a 2013 Esquire magazine
article about the raid.
O’Neill’s narrative of the raid is at
odds with that of former SEAL Matt Bissonnette who in 2012 wrote “No Easy Day”
under the pseudonym of Mark Owen.
There have also been suggestions that
an unidentified third SEAL who participated on the mission may have been the
one who fired the fatal shot that killed bin Laden.
Bissonnette has been under
investigation by the Defense Department since his book came out. At issue was
whether he violated non-disclosure agreements he signed while on active duty
about his participation in classified missions.
His attorney told the New York Times
in October that Bissonnette was the subject of a criminal probe by the Justice
Department.
Details of the raid were confirmed by
U.S. officials shortly after it occurred. The raid itself was dramatized in the
2012 movie "Zero Dark Thirty."
O'Neill left the Navy in 2012 and now
works as a motivational speaker.
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