Washington ( CNN ) -- The Pentagon general counsel threatened legal action Thursday against a former Navy SEAL who wrote a revealing book about last year 's Osama bin Laden raid , warning him he has violated secrecy agreements and broken federal law . In a letter addressed to `` Mark Owen , '' the pen name of book author Matt Bissonnette , General Counsel Jeh Charles Johnson wrote the Pentagon is considering pursuing `` all remedies legally available '' against the former SEAL and his publisher , Penguin Putnam . `` In the judgment of the Department of Defense , you are in material breach and violation of the nondisclosure agreements you signed . Further public dissemination of your book will aggravate your breach and violation of your agreements , '' Johnson wrote . The book is called `` No Easy Day '' and is a gripping account of the Navy SEAL raid on bin Laden 's compound in Pakistan last year that ended in the death of the world 's most notorious terrorist leader . The story sheds more light on the now famous skill and daring of the SEALs . But the book 's very existence stoked controversy because members of the elite unit do n't usually divulge details of their operations . The book is one of several accounts about the operation to have surfaced after last year 's raid . Buzz ramps up over SEAL 's bin Laden book . Government officials only recently became aware the former SEAL was writing a book , but they were told it encompassed more than just the raid and included vignettes from training and other missions . They wanted to see a copy , a Defense Department official said , to make sure no classified information would be released and to see if the book contained any information that might identify other team members . Thursday 's letter to Bissonnette came after a department review of the book . Bissonnette wrote in the book that he was part of a team heading up a stairwell in search of bin Laden , forces led by a SEAL point man . `` We were less than five steps from getting to the top when I heard suppressed shots . `` BOP BOP . `` The point man had seen a man peeking out of the door on the right side of the hallway about ten feet in front of him . I could n't tell from my position if the rounds hit the target or not . '' They went into a room and saw two women standing over a man at the foot of a bed , `` hysterically crying and wailing in Arabic . '' One of the women shouted in Arabic and moved toward the point man . `` Swinging his gun to the side , '' the point man grabbed the women and moved them to a corner . `` If either woman had on a suicide vest , he probably saved our lives , but it would have cost him his own . It was a selfless decision made in a split second , '' Bissonnette wrote . Bissonnette described how he and another SEAL entered the room and saw the man , clad in a white sleeveless T-shirt , loose tan pants and a tan tunic , twitching and convulsing . The author said he and another SEAL finished him off with several rounds and soon after identified him as the notorious leader of al Qaeda . The killing occurred even though a government lawyer told the SEALs that if bin Laden did n't pose a threat , he should be detained . The author found two empty firearms during a search of the area , saying bin Laden apparently `` had n't even prepared a defense '' and had `` no intention of fighting . '' According to an earlier and contradictory account from a U.S. official , bin Laden was shot after the SEALs went into the room . That account said the al Qaeda leader was moving , possibly toward one of the weapons that were in the room when he was shot . He never had a gun in hand but posed an imminent threat , according to the U.S. official . Bissonnette said he had mixed feelings about President Barack Obama , who ordered the operation . `` None of us were huge fans of Obama . We respected him as the commander-in-chief of the military and for giving us the green light on the mission , '' wrote the former SEAL , who was a 36-year-old chief petty officer when he left the Navy as a highly decorated commando in April . CNN obtained a copy of the book , which will officially be released September 4 . It first had a release date of September 11 , but Dutton , a Penguin imprint , said the book will come out early because of `` overwhelming excitement in the marketplace . '' The first printing of the book , already an Amazon best seller , is now 575,000 copies , according to Dutton . Opinion : Sense and nonsense about Obama and Osama . CNN 's Joe Sterling contributed to this report .
NEW : This means the product will ship as received by the manufacturer, sealed, with all advertised components, and with the manufacturer warranty. NEW : It says Matt Bissonnette has violated secrecy agreements he signed . Bissonnette says he was one of the SEALs who finished off bin Laden . Bissonnette was a chief petty officer when he left the Navy .