No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama bin Laden, is set to be released under the Dutton imprint of Penguin Publishing House next month. Subtitled The Autobiography of a Navy Seal, this book will be the first direct account of the events. Articles published after bin Laden’s death were accounts from officials who had debriefed the members of SEAL Team 6, not the members of the teams themselves.

The book is written by one of the navy seals who participated in the mission firsthand, under the pseudonym Mark Owen. The author was the leader of one of the teams during the mission that killed bin Laden on May 2, 2011. For their protection, the names of all of the SEALs on the mission have been changed. Scheduled television interview will feature the author in disguise, with his voice altered.

Co-author Kevin Maurer is a journalist that has worked for the Navy SEALs six times and is the author of four books.

Penguin plans on printing 300,000 copies for the release on September 11, 2012 and continuing through the holiday season. The book is expected to be a bestseller.

So far, the book is the best kept secret of the company. While described as a “blow-by-blow narrative of the assault, beginning with the helicopter crash that could have ended Owen’s life straight through to the radio call confirming Bin Laden’s death” and “an essential piece of modern history” by the publisher, other officials were caught off guard by the announcement.

John Kirby, Navy spokesman, told the New York Times that “The author did not seek Navy support/approval for this book.”

George Little, Pentagon press Secretary, told the Times that “he had not read the book and was unaware that anyone in the department had reviewed it.”

CIA spokesman Preston Golson said “As far as we can determine, this book was not submitted for pre-publication review.”

Tommy Viater, National Security Council spokesman, said “We learned about this book today from press reports,” and added, “We haven’t reviewed it and don’t know what it says.”

It is unclear whether any legal action or attempt to stop the publication will be taken as of this time. This is indeed possible: all 10,000 copies of a book by a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer who described operations in Afghanistan were destroyed before publication because the book hadn’t been reviewed by official.

The book has the potential to impact the upcoming 2012 election, putting one of President Barack Obama’s achievements in the limelight before voters cast their ballots. According to the Washington Post, it may also raise issues on their aggressive campaign toward information leaks, while supposedly allowing the press in on many secrets.

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Sunnyvale, U.S.A. — Lockheed Martin  announced that it has completed on-orbit testing of the first Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite, designated MUOS-1, paving the way for the U.S. Navy’s multi-service operational test and evaluation phase in preparation for the start of operations in August 2012.

“The successful on-orbit checkout of this revolutionary satellite is a great testament to the close coordination and partnership between the U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin team,” said Mark Valerio, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Military Space line of business. ”This event is another major milestone in our commitment to provide unparalleled communications capabilities that put mission-critical, real-time information in the hands of our mobile warfighters.”

MUOS-1 was launched Feb. 24, 2012 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. A next-generation narrowband tactical satellite communications system, MUOS will provide significantly improved and secure communications for mobile warfighters, including simultaneous voice, video and data.

“The team successfully completed this critical on-orbit test phase in an effective and efficient manner to support our customer’s program schedule,” said Mark Pasquale, who oversaw the spacecraft test phase as Lockheed Martin vice president and MUOS program manager. “The satellite is exceeding all performance requirements as a result of the disciplined flight-like test program it was subjected to in the factory prior to launch.”

MUOS satellites are equipped with a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) payload that provides a 16-fold increase in transmission throughput over the current Ultra High Frequency (UHF) satellite system, including global connectivity through the Defense Information Systems Network and support services such as full two-way voice and data transfers.

Lockheed Martin’s MUOS operations team conducted the on-orbit deployment and checkout of all spacecraft systems over a three month period, with both payloads passing a series of rigorous on-orbit tests with existing UHF ground systems and new WCDMA test terminals.

A single MUOS satellite will provide four times the capacity of the entire UFO constellation of 8 satellites.  Each MUOS satellite also includes a legacy UHF payload that is fully compatible with the current UHF Follow-on system and legacy terminals.  This dual-payload design ensures a smooth transition to the cutting-edge WCDMA technology while the UFO system is phased out.

The first MUOS satellite and associated ground system will provide initial on-orbit capability this year, followed by the launch of the second spacecraft in 2013. The five-satellite global constellation is expected to achieve full operational capability in 2015, extending UHF narrowband communications availability to the armed forces well past 2025.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Sunnyvale, Calif., is the MUOS prime contractor and system integrator. The Navy’s Program Executive Office for Space Systems, Chantilly, Va., and its Communications Satellite Program Office, San Diego, Calif., are responsible for the MUOS program.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs about 123,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation’s net sales for 2011 were $46.5 billion.

For low- and high-resolution images of the MUOS satellite, please visit: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/muos

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Though it will appear in libraries under the nonfiction section, the United States Special Operations Command is claiming the book, SEAL Target Geronimo, is false. In former Navy SEAL Chuck Pfarrer’s novel, Osama Bin Laden died a much more controversial death. He claims that, contrary to the official story released by U.S. officials, the SEAL team broke into the compound and killed bin Laden within 90 seconds.

“It’s just not true,” U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Col. Tim Nye said to the Associated Press. “It’s not how it happened.” In the official account of the operation, SEAL troops stormed the Pakistan compound on May 1, in the midst of a firefight. From there, troops found where Bin Laden was hiding, killing him.

In a conference held on May 3, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced details of the event. “The team methodically cleared the compound, moving from room to room, in an operation lasting nearly forty minutes,” he read. “They were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation…”

Pfarrer’s book has been on Amazon’s Top 20 Books sales list, as reported by the Associated Press. According to the report, he has also been featured on many media programs, including Fox News and CNN. In an interview with Good Day LA on Nov. 10, Pfarrer defended his book and the stance he took in it.

“Getting Osama Bin Laden off the street is a laudable and good goal, but the men and women who supported this operation and the valiant SEALS who carried it out deserve better than to have this shabby story of the ground-up assault and a murder in a bedroom,” he said. “History deserves the truth. The American public deserves the truth and the SEALS who carried this out deserve it.”

Pfarrer is also the author of Warrior Sould: The Memoir of a Navy SEAL. He is also contributed to many works in Hollywood. He is a writer and producer for Navy Seals, Darkman, Hard Target, The Jackal, Virus, and Red Planet. Since the official narrative was launched, the White House has had to modify the statements. The Defense Department released the following statement, as reported by Politico.

“In the room with Bin Laden, a woman – Bin Laden’s wife – rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed,” the brief statement said. “Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed.” Originally, the narrative read that Bin Laden was armed and his wife was killed.

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Officials in Pakistan received a letter stating the Taliban’s plot to kidnap a high-ranking government official with the intention of exchanging him or her for bin Laden’s family. U.S. Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden, former terror chief, in May during a helicopter-borne raid in north-western Pakistan. The raid took place in one of bin Laden’s homes where he was hiding.

Focused on killing bin Laden, the U.S. Seals took his dead body from the compound but left at least two of his wives and several children in the home. Soon after the family members were detained by the Pakistani authorities, according to the Associated Press. Pakistan’s interior ministry received the letter, which warned of the kidnapping plot, on August 23.

An AP reporter obtained a copy of the letter, stamped “secret” on Friday. The letter said that the kidnapping warning was reliable. No information on specifically which Pakistani official the Taliban plans to kidnap was given. The letter did say that the kidnapping plot would most likely take place in one of Pakistan’s four provincial capitals – Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta.

The letter was received by Pakistan just three days before Shahbaz Taseer, the son of a weathly provincial governor, was killed by Islamist militant on August 26.

The New York Times reported that Shahbaz’s father and former governor of Punjab Province, Salman Taseer, was killed in January in Islamabad. The assassin, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, who was one of Salman’s security guard, later said the killing of Salman was because of the governor’s opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.

The deaths of Taseer father and son are not the only recent high-profile kidnappings that have taken place. Another abduction occurred in Lahore in August. The AP reported that on August 15, gunmen seized 70-year-old American aid expert, Warren Weinstein, from his house. Weinstein remains missing. The police declined to speculate on who may be holding the man.

Minister Rehman Malik said that there is no clear connention between the recent kidnapping of Shahbaz Taseer’s and the plot on to free bin Laden’s family. This is not the first time Pakistan has dealt with serious kidnapping plots by the Taliban. Pakistan has reportedly released Taliban prisoners before in exchange for kidnapped government officials as well as army officers, according to the AP.

Meanwhile, The Huffington Post reported that Pakistani police are preventing foreign journalists and other visitors from getting close to the house of bin Laden ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Danish Ambassador to Pakistan and his wife as well as two French journalists, were among several people detained this week in Abbottabad – the town where bin Laden’s last hideout was located.

They were held briefly before being allowed to leave.  Ambassador Uffe Wolffhechel said he asked security officers at a checkpoint on the road to bin Laden’s house whether he and his wife could get in viewing range of the compound and “they said ‘we are sorry, no,’ and we shook hands and said ‘have a nice day’.”

The Huffington Post reported that Wolffhechel and his wife were held for around two hours while officers checked their papers. Karim Khan, Abbottabad police officer, said the authorities were preventing journalists and foreigners from visiting the compound because it is regarded as evidence in investigations into how bin Laden lived there and how the CIA found him.
Asianet-Pakistan / Shutterstock.com

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