Matt Bissonnette: Top 10 Facts You Need to Know


The Navy SEAL Team 6 member who used the pseudonym Mark Owen to write No Easy Day, the tell-all book about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, has been outed by Fox News. His name is Matt Bissonnette, age 36. What do we know about him?

1. He Penned the First First-Hand Look at Killing Bin Laden

The book’s full title is No Easy Day: The First Hand Account Of The Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden. The title clearly refers to his time in the military and is the first publicly released first-hand account of the mission that led to the death of Bin Laden. In a gimmicky move, it comes out Sept. 11.

2. He Could Go To Jail for this Book

matt bissonnette no easy day bin laden navy seal

According to White House and CIA officials, the military didn’t know about this book until the story was leaked online. When ex or current military personnel release a book about their military service, standard protocol is to give a copy to the Pentagon before the book is released publicly. This enables officials to comb through it and make sure that no confidential information gets leaked to the public. Bissonnette didn’t do this and is now taking heat for it. Dutton publishing house (a subsidiary of Penguin) claims that it did go through the book and deemed none of the information confidential. White House reps were quick to respond that Dutton’s vetting was not sufficient. If confidential info gets released in this book Bissonnette could face major jail time.

3. He Killed Pirates!

Matt Bissonnette Capt. Phillips Somali Pirates

The rescue of Capt. Phillips. Via CBS News.


Kill one pirate? You are a badass. Kill three pirates? You get Ph.D. in Bad Assery from Chuck Norris University. B.A. Bissonnette graduated Magna Cum Laude from C.N.U. back in 2009 when he rescued ship captain Richard Phillips. Phillips had been captured by Somali pirates while captaining a U.S. cargo ship in the Indian ocean. Bissonnette and his team sniped the pirates and then boarded the ship to rescue the captain. Suck it, Jack Sparrow!

4. He’s Not Happy with President Obama
Word on the street is that Bissonnette is releasing the book in order to fight President Obama accidently taking credit for Bin Laden’s death. Bissonette was quoted saying “It’s time to set the record straight about the most important mission in US Military History.”

5. He Has Upset Current And Former SEALs

Mark Bissonnette Navy Seal

The SEALs are not happy with Bissonnette and his book. Fox News quoted one SEAL saying “How do we tell our guys to stay quiet when this guy won’t?” Other accounts have members of the SEALs going as far as calling him a “traitor.”

6. He’s from the Middle of Nowhere
He’s a is native of Wrangell, Alaska, a town with a population of just over 2,300 that is only accessible via ferry or plane.

7. He’s Not The Only SEAL Angry with Obama

Last week a group called “Op Sec Education Fund” released a 22-minute video that calls out Obama for politicizing covert operations. The group claims that when Obama talks about such operations it risks the lives of current servicemen and women who are in missions.

8. He Was a Chief in SEAL Team 6
The only real description I can use to describe Seal Team 6 is “Scary Awesome.” SEAL Team 6’s official name is “ The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group” (DEVGRU for short). DEVGRU is “awesome” because it is one of four counter terrorism/special mission units in the military and is so covert that most of the details and techniques of Seal Team 6 are not even commented on by the White House or DOD. Seal Team 6 is “scary” because it has the ability to work outside of both U.S. and international law. Bissonnette achieved the rank of chief in this elite group. He retired last summer.

9. He Wrote the Book With Kevin Maurer


Bissonnette’s partner in treason on the new book was award-winning journalist Kevin Maurer. The military seems to trust Maurer with documenting missions. He has been embedded as part of the special services six times over the past five years and has covered deployment in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

10. He Gives Back
Like him or hate him, Bissonnette does seem to be a good guy at the end of the day. Bissonette plans on taking all the proceeds from the book and donating it to the family of fallen SEALs.