Dear Commons Community,

The Huffington Post is reporting that Scott Pelley’s 60 Minutes  interview with former Navy SEAL Mark Owen drew huge ratings, the network announced on Tuesday.   Owen penned the book No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden. I watched the interview and it was riveting as Owen discussed step by step the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.  CBS also did an incredible job with models and simulations of the raid.

Sunday’s  60 Minutes  interview with Owen was rare in that it took up the entire hour of the show. A total of 12.32 million viewers tuned in, making the program the most-watched, non-football program of the week. Compared to this time last year, “60 Minutes” ratings were up 52 percent in total viewers, and 55 percent in the coveted A 25-54 demographic.

Owen is not the Navy SEAL’s real name, as the book was published under a pseudonym. The CBS News production team called in some of Hollywood makeup artists to further conceal Owen’s true identity. His voice was also manipulated.  However, Owen’s real name has been leaked by several media outlets.  Fox News  revealed Owen to be Matt Bissonnette, 36, of Wrangell, Alaska.   Fox News also reported that:

“The tell-all book also has apparently upset a large population of former and current SEAL members who worry about releasing information that could compromise future missions. One Navy SEAL told Fox News, “How do we tell our guys to stay quiet when this guy won’t?” Other SEALs are expressing anger, with some going so far as to call him a “traitor.”

Tony