Did 'No Easy Day' author compromise US security on '60 Minutes'?

He also sought to dispel any sense that he was politically motivated, saying the book had no partisan aims. Others agree that the story should not be seen through a political lens, even if it might help President Obama. 

“I strongly support his right to give [his account], and the American people's right to know to what happened on that day – one of the most important in American history,” says Fordham communication professor Paul Levinson, author of “New New Media.” “Freedom and democracy thrive on information not secrecy, and as long as books such as Owen's don't endanger any missions or American lives, there should be more of them."

"As for the political impact, Barack Obama deserves enormous credit for giving the green light for the raid – it was act of enormous political courage – and if this book brings greater appreciation for Obama as president, that's well deserved," he says.

Still, other analysts have called into question Bissonnette's willingness to break special operators' traditional silence.

“Owen says the raid owed just as much success to the 50-year-old helicopter pilot as to him, then why say, ‘I fired shots'?" asks Len Shyles, professor of communication at Villanova University. "This is a contradiction by his own logic. I don’t think he should be let off the hook for this. I think it depletes his credibility.” 

Using a miniaturized, scale model of the bin Laden compound in Abbotabad, Pakistan, Bissonnette described in detail how both helicopters approached, where they attempted to land, and what ensued after that. He suggested that bin Laden was first shot by a team leader ascending the stairs. The Pentagon version stated that the special operators had entered bin Laden's room. Bissonnette explained that the helicopters flew 150 miles from outside the country, staying as low as possible to avoid Pakistani radar, since the US had not alerted Pakistan to their presence.

“It seems to me he was divulging details that are a risk to national security – 12 guys here, 12 guys there, flying under radar in helicopters – that might be quite useful to our enemies for similar events in the future,” says Professor Shyles.

Others say the account fits into the broader narrative of memoirs from the front – though their publication has been accelerated because of the greater expectation for news now. For example, Bissonnette's account comes a year after the raid, whereas Philip Caputo’s revealing book about his service in Vietnam, "A Rumor of War,” took a decade to appear in print. 

“Things move quickly today, as news cycles have shortened," says Ben Agger, director of the Center for Theory in the sociology department of the University of Texas, Arlington.

“There is something healthy about embedded journalists, even participants themselves, coming forward with frontline accounts," he adds. "Such accounts, by David Halberstam, Neil Sheehan, and even Walter Cronkite, ended the war in Vietnam. I don’t know what Owen’s political motives are, if any, but, on balance, secrecy thwarts democracy.”

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