Navy SEAL who says he killed bin Laden reveals his identity

The Navy SEAL who said he shot and killed Osama bin Laden has revealed his identity.

The Washington Post reported today that Robert O’Neill, a 38-year-old Montana native and ex-SEAL, confirmed his involvement in SEAL Team Six’s May 2, 2011, raid on bin Laden in Pakistan. O’Neill, a 15-year SEAL veteran at the time of the operation, says he fired the shot that took down the al-Qaida founder.

O’Neill originally intended to reveal himself publicly next week through interviews with The Washington Post and Fox News. The Post reported that the ex-SEAL came to the decision after repeated meetings with the paper, where he claimed his identity was at risk of being leaked. “What once was a closely guarded secret had spread widely through military circles, he said, and was known by members of Congress and at least two news organizations,” the Post described.

The reveal was pushed forward due to Special Operations Forces Situation Report, a website run by ex-SEALS, publishing his identity in protest to O’Neill’s upcoming disclosure.

In a letter signed by both the senior commander and enlisted man of Naval Special Warfare Command, the SEAL leadership emphasized that the majority of SEALs spend each day living up to the label “quiet professionals.” Unspoken is the implication that the former SEAL, who is in fact, former Red Squadron SEAL Robert O’Neill, is seeking notoriety for his own story.

O’Neill previously talked to Esquire magazine anonymously about the fateful night, identified only in the published article as “the shooter.”