Bin Laden book author to pay US government $7m

The author of a book about the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden is to pay almost $7m (£5m) to the US government for violating non-disclosure agreements, according to the BBC.

No Easy Day: The Only Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden was written by former Navy Seal Matt Bissonette, under the pseudonym Mark Owen. The book was published in September 2012 by Penguin and is the story of how Bissonette was one of the first people to enter the Abbottabad compound where Bin Laden was hiding.

At the time, Penguin said the book was “an essential piece of modern history”.

According to the BBC, however, Bisonette failed to get clearance from the Pentagon before the book was published. As well as paying the government $7m (£5m), he has also agreed to forfeit profits, royalties, film rights and speaking fees. In return the government will dismiss other liability claims.

In court, Bissonette acknowledged he failed to submit his book for review ahead of publication.

"It was a serious error that I urge others not to repeat," he was quoted as saying by CBS news. "Although I never intended to endanger my former colleagues, I now recognise that failing to seek pre-publication review could place them and their families at greater risk, for which I especially apologise."

Bin Laden was killed in a Navy Seal raid in Pakistan in 2011.