WASHINGTON — For 3½ years since the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, former Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill managed to keep a lid on the last major secret from that historic mission: his name.
Journalists and producers had chronicled nearly every second of the May 2, 2011, raid in news articles, documentaries and a major Hollywood film. More details were disclosed in books by the men who oversaw the operation from the Pentagon and the CIA.
Yet, it was O’Neill who drew fire last week for adding a single new detail to the story of bin Laden’s slaying: his identity as the shooter.
Now, after days of frequently harsh criticism, some of his former comrades are pushing back, saying the ex-SEAL is being held to a higher standard than the Pentagon and White House officials he worked for.
“We see senior officials speaking publicly and writing books, some of them while still on the job,” said a retired Special Operations veteran, insisting on anonymity because his former unit discourages speaking to the press. “But if an operator tries to speak out, it’s like someone opened the gates of hell.”
O’Neill angered many of his former SEAL team members by revealing his role in the bin Laden raid, breaking with a tradition of strict secrecy that has long defined the group.
At a time when SEAL missions have become standard Hollywood fare, many newly retired operators face unique challenges adjusting to life in a civilian world where job opportunities are decidedly less glamorous, veterans say.
“There are real difficulties,” said Scott Taylor, a former SEAL from Virginia Beach who was elected to the Virginia House of delegates last year and regularly counsels Special Operations veterans about how the struggles of post-military life. “The fact that it’s all over Hollywood now does nothing good, and it may even hurt.”
O’Neill’s disclosure rekindled a controversy that began nearly two years ago when another member of his unit, Matt Bissonnette, went public with a detailed account of the bin Laden mission in the book, “No Easy Day.” Bissonnette, who was a few steps behind O’Neill as the SEAL team blasted its way through the al-Qaeda founder’s house, was criticized sharply at the time by retired SEALs, and Defense Department officials have launched an investigation into whether his book violated secrecy rules.
O’Neill, whose identity was known to members of Congress, was
preparing to detail his involvement in the mission in interviews with The Washington Post and Fox News when his name was pre-emptively revealed by a website run by former SEALs.
Fox aired interviews with O’Neill last week in two hour-long specials. After the first segment, retired SEAL Jonathan Gilliam appeared on the same network to say O’Neill should be “prosecuted and dishonorably discharged.”
O’Neill did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
“One thing about this community is, these guys are very good at eating their own,” said a former SEAL, who described being approached by authors and literary agents. “It’s a wolf pack, and you don’t want to be a lone wolf.”
