Bissonnette Loses Royalties, Speaking Fees from “No Easy Day”
As longtime TAH readers know, Matt Bissonnette wrote a book about the takedown of bin Laden called No Easy Day under the pseudonym “Mark Owen”. It’s been the subject of numerous articles here at TAH (see here and here and here) and has been mentioned in several other related articles.
Bissonnette ended up in a bit of legal trouble over the book. While he wasn’t criminally prosecuted, the government took him to court to enforce his nondisclosure agreement. One of the terms of that nondisclosure agreement is that all profits from any work revealing classified information that is published without appropriate prior review are to be turned over to the government.
The court suit has now been settled. Bissonnette will forfeit to the US government all royalties and profits from his book; that amount is already believed to be over $6.6 million. Within 30 days he will also pony up $100k in speaking fees he received for using slides (apparently based on the same information) that were also not submitted for review prior to public use.
In short, he’ll do exactly what he agreed he would do when he signed his SF312, Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement.
IMO, Bissonnette and his original lawyers were idiots – Bissonnette for not complying originally, and his lawyers for letting this drag on for years. The SF312 is quite clear and unambiguous regarding both post-employment disclosures and the procedures for publishing works that may contain classified information – and it has been for decades.
Signing a SF312 is required for access to classified information. Bissonnette signed a SF312 – and probably multiple copies – during his Navy career.
But I guess the prospect for a 7-figure payday sometimes brings out “teh stoopid” in people.
And please, spare me the “the government is singling him out to screw him for political reasons” or “he didn’t know” garbage – because that’s bullsh!t. Bissonnette signed on the dotted line; if he was too stupid to read the document and understand it, that’s on him.
Besides: Bissonnette has written a follow-up book entitled No Hero: the Evolution of a Navy SEAL, also under the pseudonym “Mark Owen”. He submitted that book for the appropriate pre-publication review. It was approved by DoD with minor redactions.
Count your blessings, Mattie-boi. For what you did, it’s entirely possible you could be in jail today vice simply out considerable coin.
Category: "Teh Stoopid", Legal
The Quiet Professional.
Oh wait. Those are Green Berets.
Actually, the proper term is ‘Special Forces Soldier’.
‘A Green Beret is a Hat’.
Yeah, the USG is real serious about punishing those who disclose classified info and violate their NDAs. I expect next we’ll see the USG going after Hillary Clinton for the cost of the criminal investigations and damage assessments resulting from her use of an unauthorized private email server and consequent compromise of classified materials. I’m sure we’ll see that announcement in the news any day now. I’m standing over here holding my breath.
Yes but apparently the Cankle Queen never signed an SF 312….at least that’s one of the 10+thousand excuses these fuckers come up with to explain why the Shrilldabeast isn’t doing time in a federal pen.
https://foia.state.gov/searchapp/documents/hrc_ndas/1/doc_0c05833708/c05833708.pdf
Her copy was deleted in the big batch of 30,000 emails never recovered. She swears it! Lol
Aristocrats have different rules.
You know that.
I think Aristocracy is too simple a word to explain what we have now.
Maybe Clintocracy? Or Clintonocracy? Though Clintocracy has a better ring to it. Perhaps Hillarocracy?
If she burned down a townhall full of people (not that she gathers a very big crowd mind you) and said she did it to become president, the FBI would let the investigation take about 30 years and if she was still alive by that point, they’d say “well she was sorry for doing it, so its all good. She’s the leader of the Clintocracy after all!”
She did, in fact, burn down that town hall, resulting in those deaths. But, she didn’t intend for that to happen, therefore, it’s all good. Nothing to see here, move along.
Si. The Left is graded on intentions. The Right is graded on results. S.O.S.
Boom! You got that, right!
Kleptocracy.
She’s not aristocracy. She’s white trash from Park Ridge, a wealthy suburb of Chicago, nothing else. The only rules she’s ever followed start and end with ‘I, me, mine’.
I don’t care what you guys say, at some point, the shit hits the fan with everyone like that.
If she wins in November, will her Secret Service code name be
White Trash One
?
Yep, especially if obozo can get a few million to replace the trillions he has squandered! besides, he has more vacations and golf trips to do yet! I don’t care what you say, IT’s BULLSHYT! Obama and Obiden on the day after they killed bin laden, blew the whistle and told the world who did it, talk about releasing classified material, then obama sold out all those troops on “Extortion 17”, no don’t tell me how this seal was wrong!!!
Which part of “violated the NDA” is hard to understand?
And since when is “but somebody else did it!” an excuse?
My mom had an answer to that way back in the day: “so if your friends were playing on the freeway you’d do that too?”
He knew what he signed up for, he knew the rules, he compromised himself and his teammates for notoriety and a payday. He fucked up, pure and simple.
And since when do we measure our elite warriors by the antics of our politicians?
odd. I’ve got both hands on my ass waiting for the same thing.
This is what is called low hanging fruit
I’m standing by for a massive dose of KARMA for wideload and Mr. wideload. I would also include the community organizer, Kerry the war hero, the ‘reverend’ al, the majority of msm, and the list goes on.
The level of justice dispensed seems to be inversely proportional to the degree of ‘importance’ of the ‘alleged’ offender. Different spanks for different ranks. Sucks …
Oooooo Poo,,
I signed one of those I had no idea I could make so much money writing books ??
Thank God my grammar sucks !!!!
I signed one too. Was it standard for everyone with a Top Secret or above when separating?
If you sign an agreement, you should read it before you sign it. If you don’t agree with the terms of the agreement, e.g., shut your damn yap clauses, then don’t work for the company that hired you.
No, I don’t feel sorry for him. He knew better and did a dumb thing, anyway, and now he has to bite the bullet.
Piece of advice: if you’re going to tell tall tales out of school, make sure they’re F-I-C-T-I-O-N.
It’s bullshit.
He is loathed by the SEAL community. He is persona non grata. He made money from one mission, by writing some nasty things about his team who, of course, could not rebut what he wrote b/c they honored their nondisclosure agreements. He’s trying to recoup the loss of millions by suing his lawyer for giving him bad advice. I don’t know what the status of that suit is and I don’t much care to search for it. Matt fucked up, he fucked his team, and he deserves to be fucked.
I didn’t know that he was persona non grata.
NDA’s are all over business and government for many good reasons and most times are enforceable….as in this case.
Hondo’s comment above says a lot, “IMO, Bissonnette and his original lawyers were idiots.”
Yup! I agree.
they are not happy.
D!ckhead just wanted to be first to market with the story. Cut corners and got what he deserved, almost. Meanwhile, every other trigger puller with an autobiography out there checked, submitted, and rewrote as necessary. He also endangered his fellow countrymen by divulging such methods and systems. F@ck him.
It sounds like another good bad example of a SEAL that we all know and… Well… Dislike…
Too bad Chris Kyle isn’t around to kick this guys ass too…
Sounds a little like Jimmy Janos, the bitter, bitter little man…
Possible titles for his next book:
“A Not So Easy, Sleazy Payday”
“Screw the Team: I Want the Money”
Another possible title:
“I Had One Job .. To Keep My Mouth Shut”
Thank you for your service, but right now you’re a bag of dicks who failed to honor your commitment. What a dummy. Your lawyers gave you what seems to have been poor advice. Any money they earned from their ‘advice’ should also be forfeited. From reading here and elsewhere, you have been shunned by your fellow SEALs. That’s going to be a heck of a SEAL reunion. That is the worst punishment you could receive, IMO.
THIS.
No ???? for “Mark Owen”, but alot of ???? inserted sideways. Dumas.
Poor decision skills, and as mentioned above he’s PNG in the teams. All because of self inflicted wounds. Sad, really. But no sympathy here.
Good. Book never should have been written, speaking engagements should never have taken place.
Speaking for all his former teammates who knew the money was out there and kept their mouths shut and their professionalism intact: “Sucks to be you. Hope it was worth it.”
I see comments all over the internet along the lines of “Politicians get away with X but this ‘hero’ gets punished for same/similar…”
The day Warriors start comparing themselves to politicians regarding acceptable conduct and consequences, those Warriors have official lost their way.
What ^ said. Ditto x 10.
No more calls, please. We have a winner!
Roger your last.
I don’t know all the details, but I was pretty sure this guy was speaking out of school. So, I never bought the book.
Sometimes we loose our way, I guess. Alas …
“The day Warriors start comparing themselves to politicians regarding acceptable conduct and consequences, those Warriors have official lost their way.” That’s the money line. Sure, one can properly argue that Wide Load and Basinette/BassetHound/Whatever should be treated the same but, aside from what’s on the books, there’s that unwritten code and that thing called honor that just doesn’t apply to pols.
This is why I think we made a mistake when we started using the term ‘warrior’ to refer to our military. ‘Soldier’ should be enough- it was a title I was proud to bear for most of my adult life… I understand that the intent is to instill a warrior culture- to get our troops to devote themselves to the profession of arms and understand the basic nature of warfare- every supply clerk, mechanic, and baker is a rifleman first. All of that is well and proper. The problem is that warriors traditionally fought for glory, money, perhaps the love of battle itself, and ultimately, personal gain. A professional Soldier (I am using the term generically here, it applies to Marines,Airmen, and Sailors) on the other hand, applies violence in the service and defense of the nation. A Soldier prepares for war with the intent that it will deter war. A Soldier fights a war humanely yet ruthlessly, with an eye to winning as quickly to minimize death an suffering on all sides. A Soldier does not delight in death, even the death of the enemy. A Soldier does not seek glory, money, or even recognition- the securtity of the nation is reward enough. Most importantly, warriors are an elite class, separated from society. Case in point, Bissonnette was (is) probably one hell of a warrior. I wouldn’t want to get in a gunfight or fistfight with him. However, his actions seem to be completely self-serving- in the end, he pursued his own interests rather than those of the nation. He should have been satisfied with hanging out at one of the many SEAL bars here in Virginia Beach, smiling wryly to himself when one of the new guys at the end of the bar tells the other new guys what he thinks he knows about that night. By contrast, as an LT, the beginning of the end with my fiancé at the time missing a dinner with her parents because we were on an X Hour sequence for Somalia and I couldn’t tell her why (ironically, my unit never… Read more »
You’re on shaky ground with your comment about fighting wars humanely. Also, protecting and defending the nation. Our Civil War proved two things we better never forget: Americans can and will turn on each other, and nobody kills us like we do. I’m not sure why you’re determined to trip over the word ‘warrior’ — that is what they are. All of them.
Hope he hasn’t paid his lawyers. If paid from the proceeds of book sales, they should cough up the bucks to the gubberment. This guy? Freaking dumbass who felt the rules didn’t apply to him. He made a commitment, based on his honor, and sold out. No sympathy. What a dumbass.
He’s not PNG like a ‘select’ few others.
But he’s tarnished, the extent varying with the individuals, with some of the guys whose opinions of him should matter more than nearly anything else.
Certainly more than money.
Redleg; when you say ‘Professional Soldier’ and I say ‘Warrior’, we are referring to the same thing. Agree with most of what you said.
The one thing I hope everyone realized is more than 99% of the guys who have served at The Unit That Will Not Be Named – in nearly every capacity – take keeping their mouths shut, period, very, very seriously.
Fame and money can really send guys on a weird journey. I’m not exaggerating when I say some of the book and speaking nonsense really shocked a lot of guys that know them very well.
“But he’s tarnished, the extent varying with the individuals, with some of the guys whose opinions of him should matter more than nearly anything else.”
That is what would really hurt.
Maybe instead of “no easy day” it should be “no easy paycheck”
No Easy Litigation
These Navy Seals sure have had a lot of lawsuits over books. Here’s another one between two Vietnam Veteran Navy Seals.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19980126&id=kaJjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mggGAAAAIBAJ&pg=6950,4920422
Agent Orange? Gulf War? Seriously? He isn’t even trying. I think when he says he is a psychic, he forgot that middle syllable “ot”
You didn’t even get to the weird part. I ain’t never seen no shit like this!
http://drwilliammount.blogspot.com/