By Andrea Shalal-Esa and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON, Aug 24 (Reuters) – The former U.S. Navy SEAL who authored a soon-to-be-published book about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden is now facing threats against his life in addition to possible criminal prosecution.
An official al Qaeda website on Friday posted a photograph and the name of the former Navy commando responsible for the book, calling him “the dog who murdered the martyr Sheikh Osama bin Laden.”
The head of U.S. Special Operations Command told current and former troops that the military would take legal action against anyone found to have exposed sensitive information that could cause harm to fellow forces.
“We will pursue every option available to hold members accountable, including criminal prosecution where appropriate,” Admiral Bill McRaven wrote in an open, unclassified letter emailed to the active-duty special operations community, and obtained by Reuters on Friday.
“As current or former members of our special operations community, authors have a moral obligation, and a legal duty, to submit their works for pre-publication security review,” the admiral wrote.
Fox News made public on Thursday what it said was the real name of the former SEAL who, with a journalist co-author, wrote “No Easy Day,” using the pseudonym Mark Owen. The book is due to be released next month on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
By early on Friday, the man’s name, photograph and age had been posted on the “the Al-Fidaa Islamic Network” online forum, one of two websites officially endorsed by al Qaeda, according to Evan Kohlmann, founder of the New York-based security firm Flashpoint Global Partners.