A former Navy SEAL who made headlines earlier for claiming he was the one who shot dead Osama bin Laden is now under investigation for allegedly leaking US government secrets.
Robert O'Neill, who ignited a controversy weeks ago when he publicly claimed credit for killing the then most wanted terrorist of the world, is under investigation for possibly leaking classified official secrets, the Daily Beast has reported.
"The Naval Criminal Investigative Service NCIS) is in receipt of an allegation that Mr. O'Neill may have revealed classified information to persons not authorised to receive such information. In response, NCIS has initiated an investigation to determine the merit of the allegations," Ed Bruice, NCIS public affairs officer told the publication.
The Associated Press news agency also quoted a spokesman for the Navy, CDR Ryan Perry as saying in a statement that the NCIS had received an allegation that O'Neill may have revealed sensitive information to persons not authorised to receive such messages.
The revelations by the Navy SEAL – who joined the Navy in 1995 and has also won various stars for his services – has created a discord among his equals for what they have termed as 'breaking their silence' regarding their mission.
O'Neill insists that the members of the public have the right to know what exactly happened during the 2011 mission.
The man, who is from Butte, Montana, served more than a dozen tours of duty in active combat. Among the places he extensively travelled to include Iraq and Afghanistan, where he undertook over 400 separate combat missions.
The Pentagon officials have said it can't be said with certainty which SEAL's shot proved to be actually fatal for bin Laden. Another SEAL, Matt Bissonnette, has argued that the point man who led the way to bin Laden's bedroom was the one who should be credited for the fatal blows. Bin Laden was already down when O'Neill shot him again, Bissonnette has claimed.
