Former Navy SEAL Probed for Possibly Releasing Classified Details of Bin Laden Raid

Robert O'Neill claimed in November that he shot bin Laden.

ByABC News
December 23, 2014, 8:00 PM
Robert O'Neill, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, speaks at the "Best of Blount" Chamber of Commerce awards ceremony at the Clayton Center for the Arts in Maryville, Tenn., Nov. 6, 2014.
Robert O'Neill, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, speaks at the "Best of Blount" Chamber of Commerce awards ceremony at the Clayton Center for the Arts in Maryville, Tenn., Nov. 6, 2014.
Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg/Getty Images

— -- 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.

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.