The investigation wile only see here on 360. We begin with breaking news. A navy s. E. A. L. Stepping out of the shadows, breaking the famous s. E. A. L. Code of silence to take credit for firing the bullets that killed Osama Bin Laden. His name is robert oneil. He first told the story anonymously to esquire in 2013. The article refers to him as the shooter n that article, he described in gripping detail how the now legendary 2011 raid went down in abapakistan. Now mr. Oneil has gone public in an interview with the Washington Post. That decision alone is a breach of the s. E. A. L. S code of hon and the claim hes making contradicts with other accounts of how it unfolded. Brian todd takes a look. Reporter a former navy s. E. A. L. Comes forward, saying hes the man who killed Osama Bin Laden. Sources in the special Operations Community tell Cnn National Security analyst Peter Bergen Robert oneil claims to be the shooter. Oneil is a decorated former s. E. A. L. From montana, who now works as a motivational speaker. My name is be robert oneil. I was a navy s. E. A. L. For almost 17 years. I was involved directly with combat since 9 11 started. Reporter oneils account is three s. E. A. L. S moved to the compound. He said he fired a shot which struck bin laden in the forehead. The terrorist leader died instantly, he said, his skull split by the first bullet. But peter bergen had another version, illustrated in this animation. They say after three s. E. A. L. S moved up the stairs, another s. E. A. L. Fired fatal shot from the area of the stairs leading to bin ladens floor as bin laden peered out the door of his bedroom. Most of the people in the s. E. A. L. Community ive spoken to say that the night that bin laden was killed, somebody called the point man who is never going to identify himself publicly, was the guy that took first shot at bin laden and winged him and then bin laden collapsed on the ground in his bedroom and he was finished off by two other s. E. A. L. S. Those two sales. E. A. L. S, separately a u. S. Military official told Cnns Barbara Starr there was a s. E. A. L. Named robert oneil on the mission, but they dont know if oneil fired the kill shot. Bergen acknowledges the scene was confusing. It was a night with no moon, no electricity in the house. It was a helicopter had crashed. There were two or three fire fights. These guys were wearing night vision goggles, and the whole event of killing bin laden, my guess, took place in ten seconds. The head of the s. E. A. L. Command sent a letter in recent days reminding s. E. A. L. S not to break their code of silence, warning of, quote, judicial consequence if they do. Former s. E. A. L. John mcgwire says neither oneil or bissonnette should have spoken about the raid. Everybody wants to know how we do things. Our enemy wants to know more than we do. We have to protect future missions and other americans lives. We tried to reach robert oneil directly and through his representatives, we could not get him to comment. He told the Washington Post the s. E. A. L. S expected that bin laden compound to be heavily guarded and booby trapped and said this was the First Mission where he thought he would likely be killed. Brian todd, cnn, washington. A lot to talk about. I want to bring in peter bergen who you heard from in brians report, one of the few journalists that ever interviewed Osama Bin Laden. He spent years reporting on al qaeda and bin laden and also joining us navy s. E. A. L. Jonathan gillom. One thing that strikes me about the s. E. A. L. S is the brotherhood, not only for people who are currently in it, but even for people who are in it in the past. As long as you keep that the code there is that brotherhood for your entire life, from all the s. E. A. L. S ive talked to so far, this guy sacrificed that. Hes blown that up for himself. Thats absolutely correct. But hes sacrificed a lot in doing this. Whether he is the real shooter or not, hes put a bulls eye on his back that is bigger in a lot of ways than the bulls eye that Osama Bin Laden had on his. Youre talking about actual bulls eye from jihadists. His family, himself, hes on the speakering lecture circuit. Anybody that goes to see this guy is a target, when theyre in a room with him. Thats a big deal for his career and what i believe is his motivation. If you were invited to go hear him speak, would you want to be in the same auditorium . I served as an fbi agent, im here to tell you right now i wouldnt be anywhere close to this guy. So you really think there is potential threat against his life, from coming forward and giving his name, identifying himself . Sure, and, again, youre talking about the brotherhood, talking about secrets. This transcends many, many levels, but it is not a s. E. A. L. Problem. It is an oneil problem. It is a bissonnette problem. These two individuals have gone out and taken the knowledge that theyre trusted with, and exposed this, and it perception is reality. It had an effect on the way the public looks at us and that is wrong because the s. E. A. L. Community, as you know, you no many of us, it is a brotherhood and it is a tight group that is very professional and they take their job very seriously. And this is not a good light to be shown on us. Peter, you know, do you believe that al qaeda, its affiliates, isis, anybody out there, would want to seek revenge against this particular man . You know, im scratching my head, anderson, to think of an example of an assassination attempt by al qaeda against in this country against anyone. You know, i dont think they really have the capacity to do this kind of thing. Maybe some sort of somebody radicalized on the internet who got it into his mind, might try and seek this guy out. But, you know, thats a little bit different. I dont think al qaeda has the capacity. But certainly in terms of targets for deranged people out there, or people who want to make a name for themselves in the jihadist community, whether they actually are part of al qaeda or just, as you said, you know, are nidal hasan and watched this stuff online, this guy would seem to be somebody they would make a name for themselves with. Indeed. So and, you know, there are plenty of wacko whas whackos ou do you think some sort of legal action should be taken by the government, by the pentagon against him . Well, you know, like we were discussing earlier, off camera, you know, if you were my attorney, and i had a widget that i invented and you went out and were going to handle the legal part of that, the case was settled but then you told all my secrets, you would be held accountable for that. Thats an illegal violation of the law. It is no different when youre dealing with classified information. It is classified for a reason. Whether it it doesnt matter what you think is right or wrong, it is classified and thats against the law. And, you know, again, this is a leadership problem. When you have the Vice President and the secretary of defense pretty much giving the same briefs or allowing hollywood to come in and sit in a brief the movie zero dark thirty. Correct. Now we have guys saying we can go out and do the same thing and probably not be punished, but the reality is the leadership of the s. E. A. L. Team should look to pulling these guys back in. They have broken laws pull them back in to prosecute. And given dishonorable discharges. Peter, do you think thats actually likely . There is a criminal investigation of Matt Bissonnette. We dont know what the Justice Department will look at in the case of robert oneil, but they have im sure theyll be looking at it. The issue is not sort of talking about what these raids so much, it is the issue of not clearing the information through the usual channels. I mean, it is fine if youre the leon panetta has written a book where he got cleared by the agency and there is a chapter in it about the bin laden raid. And, you know, we live in an open society, as american taxpayers, significant events are going to come up and be part of the historical record and there is nothing wrong with the public finding out about things that are cleared by the appropriate agency. So what Matt Bissonnette did and what rob oneil is doing is just to go outside the channels. That is really the problem here. You look at a guy like Marcus Luttrell who wrote lone survivor and service and other, you know, movie was made of it, he cleared everything with the pentagon. He cleared everything with the s. E. A. L. Community. And is in Good Standing with the s. E. A. L. Community. Sure. Think about general Stanley Mcchrystal who wrote a wonderful book which gets into details about joint special Operation Command that was entirely cleared by the pentagon. And, you know, it is a good book and there is no the issue here is not publishing books, the issue here is getting the proper clearances to do it. Do you think this is i mean, he doesnt have a this guy oneil doesnt have a book out yet at this point. Do you think this is about just making a name for yourself, hes on the lecture circuit, i guess this boosts his value on the lecture circuit. Of course, i mean, the value of him speaking probably just went up ten fold. Again, did it really . Because do you want to be in a room with this guy . I dont disagree with what peter is saying there, but i do think that, you know, there was a day and age when the silent professional was the person who did the job and didnt look for the glory. Now what you have is classified information being used for power, by politicians and money by some of the guys that have gone and done this, and it has happened in other communities as well. The fact is just simply going out and releasing this information, showing that there are guys that dont follow the channel, that there may be a break down in leadership, that in itself can embolden the enemy. Peter, you heard i talked to some folks who actually have backed this up as well, you heard from sources in the community that oneil is known for going out to bars and talking, im the guy who killed bin laden. He got thrown off red squadron, the group the small group within s. E. A. L. Team six that did the raid. And that sort of speaks for itself. His reputation in the community, i dont know him personally, is not a very good one. It is not it is the issue, first of all, of going out and being public about it. And secondly there are people who basically are undercutting his version of events. Matt bissonnette went out with no easy day, but no one is questioning his version of events. So this seems to be a double whammy for oneil here. Peter bergen, appreciate you being on and jonathan gillom, thank you. Set your dvr, watch 360 whenever you want. Just ahead, breaking news about a letter that president obama sent to iran. Id just gotten married. I was right out of school. My familys all military. You dont know what to expect. Then suddenly youre there. In another world. I did my job. You do your best. I remember the faces. How everything mattered. So much more. My buddies. My country. Everything. And everyone i loved. Back home. [ male announcer ] for all whove served and all who serve, we can never thank them enough. For over 19 million people. [ mom ] with life insurance, were not just insuring our lives. Were helping protect his. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. Transamerica. Transform tomorrow. Transamerica. Synchrony Financial Partners with over two hundred thousand businesses, from fashion retailers to healthcare providers, from jewelers to Sporting Good stores, to help their customers get what they want and need. Banking. Loyalty. Analytics. Synchrony financial. Engage with us. I was out for a bike ride. I didnt think id have a heart attack. But i did. Im mike, and im very much alive. Now my doctor recommends a bayer aspirin regimen to help prevent another heart attack. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. Welcome back. Two sources telling cnn the u. S. Has opened communication with iran via iraqis concerning military action against isis. We also learned just last month president obama sent a letter to irans Supreme Leader expressing the two countries shared interest in beating isis. All this even as the military and the white house continue to insist theyre not cooperating with the iranians with strategy or intelligence. It looks like the u. S. Air strikes from syria may have killed a high value target, a 24yearold jihadist and bombmaker for khorasan, the group targeted in the first wave of air strikes in syria you may remember back in september. Overnight, five strikes air strikes targeted the group again. This video purportedly showing some of the aftermath. The u. S. Defense official says that one of the strikes targeted a vehicle believed to be carrying the bombmaker. Joining me with the latest is chief National Correspondent jim sciutto and nick paton walsh. You have new information about communication between the u. S. And iran about the air strikes against isis. Thats right. Multiple officials tell me Communication Channels have been opened up with iran as you said via the iraqis. This is not to coordinate military action but to share information to avoid conflict between u. S. And Iranian Military assets in the air or on the ground. You have both the u. S. And iran fighting isis now, in iraq, that includes a lot of planes in the air, and because of that, they want to avoid shooting at each other if that were to happen by accident, no intention. Or getting in each others way. As a result of that, theyre sharing information about military operations via the iraqis. It is really remarkable cooperation necessary in light of the fact that theyre both fighting the same enemy there. But also an unusual form of cooperation between the two countries. What do you know about the air strikes targeting this bombmaker . This was a convoy where they had intelligence that he was in the convoy, they have not confirmed he was killed, but a military official told barbara star th starr they believe he was killed in the air strike. It tells you it is progress. It was only last week that u. S. Officials were telling us that they had confirmed first round of air strikes that were on that very first night of the air campaign in syria against khorasan, they concluded had not killed any of the senior leaders. Two, it tells you theyre improving their intelligence on the ground, syria had in effect been an intelligence black hole for the u. S. Because if hadnt been involved there. Thats the handicap with these military operations. And if it is true they have gotten him, it would show their intelligence improved substantially. The idea they would know in advance they were in this vehicle enough to be able to target this vehicle. Nick, the u. S. Thinks they got their target in the bombmaker. You said there are consequences to the attack. What are you hearing . There were five air strikes, and, yes, may have been the khorasan members. But other buildings too were hit as part of that. One, al nusra headquarters, the al qaeda affiliate in syria, prescribed as Terror Organization. Another building hit belonging to a conservative militant group, sunnis too, but not considered a Terror Organization and not ally to al qaeda. There are some scratching their head as to how they came under u. S. Cross hairs and the group itself saying women and children were killed in that blast. So is the impression on the ground from your Vantage Point that this is doing damage to u. S. Credibility . Certainly i think there are many syrians who thought attacks against nusra, remember in the eyes of many syrian citizens are in fact protecting them in the lengthy civil war against the syrian regime. But also targeting asham, also militarily successful against the regime. While the main target is isis, remember what jim said about military not coordination but information with iran, the key backer of the syrian regime. After the strikes, perhaps by mistake or simply because they seem necessary target at the time, thats going to leave many syrians who have been wondering what the u. S. Policy has been for some time, whether or not they are inadvertently or directly assisting the regime. Thank you. Stick around. Wasnt to pu i want to pull the focus back to look at this. Joining me now is philip mudd. It seems the situation in syria, phil, it seems like it is becoming more and more complicated. Does it seem that way to you . It sure does. In my career, you got to have mission focus when youre dealing with complexity like this. For example, if youre dealing in a situation like somalia, very limited engagement, point targets using drones against terrorist leadership. When you want a regime change in places like iraq and afghanistan, Major Military engagement. But lets shift to syria. Were telling our allies we kind of want you to fight isis, but we dont share your goal of fighting assad. Were telling the syrian people, we dont like assad, but were going to kill some of the militants, even though they might be terrorists in our eyes, who want to oust assad. At some point you got to step back and say exactly what are we up to in syria because i dont think the Current Situation is going to stand forever. There doesnt seem to be at this point, at least publicly clarified, a simple and specific mission, certainly in syria. I think there is the beginnings of a simple focus and that is lets take out the elements of isis, khorasan excuse me, the elements of Khorasan Group who are directly focused on targeting the united states. When you start getting into the syrian opposition, i think thats where this starts to fall apart. Syrian people saying i understand some of these strikes, but when you get into what we did last night, theyre saying these people are people who are viewed by syrians as fighting assad and protecting the syrian people. I think we have to step back and sort it out. Do you believe that the u. S. Is losing credibility or risk losing credibility by multiple strikes and different groups .