Gawker reports that Anthony Shaffer “is suing the Pentagon and the CIA over their extraordinary attempts to censor Operation Dark Heart, the book he wrote recounting his days as a military spy in Afghanistan and elsewhere. One problem he’s run into: The government has the original unredacted manuscript he wrote. And it won’t give him a copy. Because it’s classified.”

But he can buy it on eBay.

When the Pentagon discovered the book contained sensitive information, it had already been printed and dozens of review copies sent out. So even though the government bought all 10,000 copies of the book directly from the publisher and destroyed them,  there are still copies floating around.

Just published: SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden by Chuck Pfarrer.

The Daily Beast notes the author “certainly had access” and was a SEAL Team Six assault-element commander in the 1980s.

The Obama administration “is exploring a shift in the military’s
mission in Afghanistan to an advisory role as soon as next year,” the Wall Street Journal reports, “a move that would scale back U.S. combat duties ahead of
their scheduled conclusion at the end of 2014.”

“Officials said agreement on a formal shift to an advisory role could
come as early as a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting in May — in
the heat of the U.S. presidential election campaign.”

“Turn on CNN in 15 minutes. The president will have an announcement —
and, by the way, tell Ted to get ready to open that bottle.”

— CIA Director Leon Panetta, quoted by the Los Angeles Times, talking to the wife of restauranteur Ted Balestreri, who bet a $10,000 bottle of wine that Panetta couldn’t find Osama bin Laden.

American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the public face of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has been killed in Yemen, CNN reports.

“The U.S. regards al-Awlaki, who was believed to be hiding in Yemen, as the biggest threat to its homeland security. Western intelligence officials believe al-Awlaki is a senior leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the most active al Qaeda affiliates.”