Owen and his publisher's decision to release the book without first submitting it for United States Department of Defense (DoD) review generated controversy.

[6] Shortly after the book's announcement, Owen's identity was revealed as former U.S. Navy SEALs Chief Special Warfare Operator Matt Bissonnette and the DoD confirmed that he was in fact the author.

[5] In early September 2012, a former SEAL named Brandon Webb stated that he learned of Owen's intent to write the book after a "slight" from the U.S. Navy shortly before he separated from the service.

[9] According to Webb, when Owen told his comrades on SEAL Team Six of his intent to leave the service, he was ostracized by his leadership and ordered to return to his home base while his unit was in the middle of a training exercise.

Lieutenant Colonel James Gregory of the DoD stated that, should the book contain specialized information about SEAL weapons and tactics, Owen could potentially be charged with a criminal offense.

[12] On August 25, 2012, members of al Qaeda spread Owen's personal information, calling for militants to exact revenge upon him, identifying him as the one responsible for the death of bin Laden.

[13] On August 30, 2012, the Pentagon announced that it was considering legal action against the former U.S. Navy SEAL for material breach of non-disclosure agreements with his first-hand account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Said the No Easy Op authors, It has been our experience as writers that DOD reviews are painfully long and typically are more concerned with removing information that might make senior leadership look bad than with ensuring operational security [OPSEC].

The officers stated that they expected the SEAL community to shun Owen, because he broke the informal code of silence that DEVGRU members traditionally adhere to.

[21] The Atlantic speculated in October 2012 that Owen and his publisher skipped a Pentagon review of their manuscript because they wanted to beat Mark Bowden's forthcoming book on the bin Laden raid, The Finish, to market.

[7] Kim Curtis of the Associated Press stated that the book's strengths were its cast of characters including Owen, and its "remarkably intimate glimpse into what motivates men striving to join an elite fighting force like the SEALs—and what keeps them there".

[26] Dexter Filkins, journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist, wrote positively about the book, but described the end as giving off "a tacky feel".

[27] Owen "seems to resent the fact that Obama took credit for the raid and at one point even resisted signing a framed flag for him, on the now-preposterous grounds that he didn’t want his identity revealed".

[27] Tony Perry of the Los Angeles Times called the book an "important historical document" and "brisk and compelling in its telling of the training, execution and immediate aftermath of the bin Laden mission by the elite SEAL Team 6."

[28] Janet Maslin of The New York Times described the book as an "exciting, suspenseful account" of how Owen trained for the bin Laden and other, potentially dangerous missions.

Anderson says that he has a "problem" with the author's decision to write the book, saying, "open-source information about special operations set out in this way puts our troops and their missions in danger.