Moe explains the process that one goes through upon exiting the military as far as what you are and are not able to do. He says there is no time limit on classified information.
Matt Bissonnette is a former navy seal who claims the book, “No Easy Day,” is not political. Moe Davis says the author clearly knew he was violating the exit terms of agreement–regulations he signed. Davis also states that the book is clearly political.
[Correction: The book will be released 9/11/12. It is a best seller on Amazon in pre-sales].
The book has been released and is already a best seller on Amazon. It was not vetted. It needed to be. It is undetermined if Bissonnette will be prosecuted. Should he be punished? Is he a traitor or a hero? Did he leak classified information? This issue will probably be argued for a decade.
Meanwhile, Colonel Davis sees the book as a lose/lose situation for the Obama administration.
If there is a God in heaven, the Obama administration will prosecute.
It would seem more appropriate, to me, that the pentagon prosecute. How would that work? Moe?
SPECOPS is Fight Club.
One does NOT talk about Fight Club.
Period.
I don’t care if Obama claimed that he rappelled into the hot zone personally, while the SEALS were hiding like school girls.
The author needs to be, if appropriate, prosecuted so that there is no precedent. He needs to get off of his high horse. Of course this is a political book. How would this guy like it if a military member writes a tell-all when a President that HE likes is in office? What an idiot.
Thanks for rising above the politics on the SEALS, Cargo. I agree. It doesn’t matter who is president. Rules is Rules. Security is Security…national that is.
Pentagon under Sec. of Defense. Sec. of Defense=Obama Administration. It is more specific to say I hope the Pentagon prosecutes him. Unfortunately, they don’t have the sack to do it.
Moe’s right.
They should burn this guy. I remember signing a LIFETIME NDA when I was involved as a young buck. Meaning that regardless of whether or not you knowingly leak classified info, you’re supposed to keep your mouth shut about everything. Op tempo is high and things move very fast, so on the ground you don’t exactly always know what’s classified and what’s not.
Throw the book at him. He’s violating his NDA at a minimum.
I was never a Seal or anything exciting like that. I had a high level security clearance to do an egghead job, however. Nonetheless, I signed the same agreements. The process I went through was exactly as Moe described. Like the development issues in Prince William County, this is one on which we can all agree.
I can’t believe that we’re all singing Kumbaya on something … wait until I tell you what I think about the Romney-Ryan plan and we’ll be back to hurling pitchforks in no time. Seriously, any of us that ever held a clearance of any type know you can’t talk publicly about the details of what you did in a classified program without getting a security review first. What I think is going to be interesting is seeing how the Obama administration handles it. If they do nothing, critics will say reminding the public right before the election that UBL was killed on his watch is a political stunt to shore up his tough-on-terrorism cred. On the other hand, if they charge Bissonnette critics will say they are persecuting a patriot for standing up to tell the public the truth about the raid after the administration leaked bogus info. To quote Bart Simpson, “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
However, they also need to track down the leakers from the administration and burn them too.
Obama doesn’t need to say anything about killing UBL. All he has to say..or should have said…..Good job. And leave it alone. He kept crowing about it…not him personally, but people like Biden.
That’s the problem.
You’ve all skipped over the big problem here. Who the hell is the Obama administration to go after ANYBODY over leaks? The White House has a leak problem of its own!
@SlowpokeRodriguez
Yes it does.
That STILL doesn’t excuse this.
I think anyone on this blog that’s in the club realizes that even purchasing the book is considered out of bounds.
I wonder if DSS will publish guidance.
Slow and especially Moe. You can appreciate this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrRuNOaNYME&sns=em
Enjoy
@Marinm
I’ve making the same argument for months. This is an issue where there should be broad bi-partisan support.
@Marinm
That’s awesome.
@Morris Davis
You and I are in agreement.
Curious, though. How does one deal with an American that attacks Americans, sides with the enemy, or publicly declares that he’s no longer an American?
moe if the kids had not been fussy I would’ve posted the great article I say destroying ‘fact checking’ and instead showing how this guys true journalism and backbone in asking the hard question is what true journalism is about.
Our left leaning friends here do not understand that one of the few things to get passed in congress was them giving the POTUS the ability to assassinate Americans without trial and due process. That is a VERY scary thing. Imagine for a moment Palin having that power.
I’ll see if I can dig it up or worse case I’ll FB you.
@Marinm
It can’t be illegal to buy a publicly available book. Only write one in violation of one’s security oath.
Anyone ever checked out Wikileaks?
NTK
The govt isn’t saying its illegal to buy the book but it can say that it violates a persons clearance as they are exceeding their NTK e.g. Gov declaring WikiLeaks out of bounds.
I recall when manning did hat he did we got guidance that WikiLeaks was out of bounds. Too bad too cause it was a good site to watch terrorists kill themselves.
I don’t know if they intentionally leaked or not, my feeling is probably not. Hell, the mission commander doesn’t even know the details until you get back to the boat and debrief, much less some pol sitting back in D.C.