In the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, a DSMA-Notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notice) is an official request to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of
national security. DSMA-Notices were formerly called a DA-Notice (Defence Advisory Notice), and before that called a Defence Notice (D-Notice) until 1993.
A similar system was previously operational in
Australia, but has fallen into disuse.
United Kingdom
In the UK the original D-notice system was introduced in 1912 and run as a voluntary system by a joint committee headed by an Assistant Secretary of the
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
and a representative of the
Press Association. Any D-notices or DA-notices are only advisory requests and are not legally enforceable; hence, news editors can choose not to abide by them. However, they are generally complied with by the media.
In 1971, all existing D-notices were cancelled and replaced by standing D-notices, which gave general guidance on what might be published and what was discouraged; and what would require further advice from the secretary of the
Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee
The Defence and Security Media Advisory Committee is a British advisory body established in 2015 which oversees a voluntary code which operates between the government departments which have responsibility for national security and the media.
Histo ...
(DPBAC). In 1993, the notices were renamed DA-notices (Defence Advisory Notices).
One of the recommendations resulting from the 2015 review of the DA-notice system included the renaming of the system to the Defence and Security Media Advisory (DSMA) Committee. This name reflected better the longstanding inclusion of the work of the intelligence agencies. In 2017, the notices were reworded and then reorganized into the following categories:
* DSMA-Notice 01: Military Operations, Plans & Capabilities
* DSMA-Notice 02: Nuclear and Non-Nuclear Weapon Systems and Equipment
* DSMA-Notice 03: Military Counter-Terrorist Forces, Special Forces and Intelligence Agency Operations, Activities and Communication Methods and Techniques
* DSMA-Notice 04: Physical Property and Assets
* DSMA-Notice 05: Personnel and their Families who work in Sensitive Positions
According to an article in ''Defense Viewpoints'', between 1997 and 2008 there were "30 occasions where the committee secretary has written to specific editors when a breach in the D-Notice guidelines is judged to have occurred".
Known uses
In 1967, a political scandal known as the
D-notice affair
The D-notice affair was a British political scandal from 1967, in which Prime Minister Harold Wilson accused the '' Daily Express'' newspaper of breaching two D-notices which advised the press not to publish material which might damage national s ...
occurred, when Prime Minister
Harold Wilson made an attack on the ''
Daily Express'' newspaper, accusing it of breaching two D-notices which advised the press not to publish material which might damage national security. When the newspaper asserted it had not been advised of any breach, an inquiry was set up under a committee of
privy counsellor
The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of ei ...
s. The committee found against the government, whereupon the government refused to accept its findings on the disputed article, prompting press outrage and the resignation of the secretary of the D-notice committee.
It has been reported that in 1971, four days following the
Baker Street robbery, a D-notice was issued, requesting that reporting be discontinued for reasons of national security. It is claimed that some security boxes contained embarrassing or nationally sensitive material. However, an investigation some years later showed that a request had never been made to the D-notice committee. In fact, ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' newspaper was still reporting about the case over two months later.
In 2004 and 2005, three blanket letters were sent to newspapers advising against publication of countermeasures used against roadside ambushes of British forces in the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror
, image ...
.
In 2008, a DA-notice was issued to prevent further disclosure relating to sensitive anti-terror documents left on a train by a senior civil servant.
On 8 April 2009, the committee issued a DA-notice in relation to sensitive anti-terror documents photographed when Assistant Commissioner
Bob Quick arrived at Downing Street for talks about current police intelligence.
On 25 November 2010, the committee issued a note to editors drawing attention to standing DA-notices 1 and 5 in relation to sensitive documents expected to be released on the website
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
.
In October 2013, Prime Minister
David Cameron made a veiled threat to newspapers over NSA and GCHQ leaks, stating in Parliament that the government might use "injunctions or D-notices or the other tougher measures" to restrain publication of leaked classified information if newspapers did not voluntarily stop publishing them.
In 2017, a notice was issued to British journalists regarding revealing
the author of the controversial
Steele dossier
The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier, is a controversial political opposition research report written from June to December 2016, containing allegations of misconduct, conspiracy, and cooperation between Donald Trum ...
alleging collusion between
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
and the
Russian government during the
2016 presidential election
This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*7 January: Kiri ...
.
Multiple British outlets ignored this advisory and revealed his name anyway, including
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
, ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' and ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''.
On 7 March 2018 and on 14 March 2018 two notices were issued to protect MI6 in relation to some aspects of the
Skripal affair. In the early 1990s
Sergei Skripal
Sergei Viktorovich Skripal ( rus, Серге́й Ви́кторович Скрипáль, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ skrʲɪˈpalʲ; born 23 June 1951) is a former Russian military intelligence officer who acted as a double agent f ...
was recruited by
Pablo Miller
Pablo Miller (born 1960) is a former British diplomat and soldier who was first secretary of the British embassy in Estonia from 1997. In 2002 he was given the Order of the White Star, 3rd Class by the President of Estonia Arnold Rüütel. He w ...
, the MI6 agent inside the UK embassy to
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
in
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
. The MI6 officer
under diplomatic cover in Moscow at this time was
Christopher Steele
Christopher David Steele (born 24 June 1964) is a British former intelligence officer with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1987 until his retirement in 2009. He ran the Russia desk at MI6 headquarters in London between 2006 and 200 ...
. Miller was also the handler of Skripal after he went to jail and was released by Russia in a spy swap. Both lived in
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
. Steele and Miller worked for
Orbis Business Intelligence
Christopher David Steele (born 24 June 1964) is a British former intelligence officer with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1987 until his retirement in 2009. He ran the Russia desk at SIS Building, MI6 headquarters in London between ...
which compiled the controversial
Trump–Russia dossier, comprising 17 memos written in 2016 alleging misconduct and conspiracy between
Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Putin administration. While the precise nature of the relations between Skripal, Miller, and Steele were hidden, enough was already known to raise questions about Skripal's ongoing involvement with British intelligence.
Australia
A voluntary system of D-Notices was also used in
Australia starting in 1952 during the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
period; these were issued by the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Committee. At the first meeting of the Committee, eight D-Notices were issued covering atomic tests in Australia, aspects of naval shipbuilding, official ciphering, the number and deployment of
Centurion tank
The Centurion was the primary British Army main battle tank of the post-World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is widely considered to be one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing ...
s, troop movements in the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
, weapons and equipment information not officially released, aspects of air defence and certain aerial photographs.
In 1974 the number of D-Notices was reduced to four, covering:
# Technical information regarding navy, army and air force weapons, weapons systems, equipment and communications systems;
# Air operational capability and air defences;
# Whereabouts of Mr and Mrs
Vladimir Petrov; and
# Ciphering and monitoring activities.
A fifth D-Notice relating to the
Australian Secret Intelligence Service
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
(ASIS) was issued in 1977.
In 1982 D-Notices were again revised to four.
* D Notice 1: Capabilities of the Australian Defence Force, Including Aircraft, Ships, Weapons, and Other Equipment;
* D Notice 2: Whereabouts of Mr and Mrs
Vladimir Petrov;
* D Notice 3: Signals Intelligence and Communications Security; and
* D Notice 4:
Australian Secret Intelligence Service
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
(ASIS).
The Defence, Press and Broadcasting Committee has not met since 1982 although the D-Notice system remains the administrative responsibility of the
Minister for Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
.
The D-Notice system fell out of common use at the end of the Cold War but remained in force. The 1995 Commission of Inquiry into the Australian Secret Intelligence Service reported that newspapers confessed ignorance that the D-Notice system was still operating when it was drawn to their attention in 1993 and 1994.
On 26 November 2010,
Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland sent a letter to heads of Australian media and other organisations proposing the creation of a new system similar to the D-Notice system.
The proposed National Security Legislation Amendment Bill (2014) has been described as an extension of the D-Notice system that would subject journalists who reveal details of intelligence operations to criminal penalties.
Sweden
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the
government agency
A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administrati ...
Statens Informationsstyrelse distributed gray notices ("grå lappar") to the media. The notes requested the media not to report on certain events that were not to become public knowledge for political or military reasons. During the war, a total of 260 gray notices were distributed to the media.
[Ingrid Adielsson.]
Det ofria ordet — Censur och tryckrihet 1766–1810 och 1920–1945
(p 54), Magisteruppsats vid Uppsala Universitet
Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
The university rose to significance during ...
, hösten 2007. Åtkomst den 15 april 2018.
In popular culture
The use of the D-Notice is demonstrated and referenced several times in the first episode of the ''
Black Mirror
''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative fictio ...
'' television series, first aired in 2011. The episode is titled "
The National Anthem" and within it the UK government imposes a D-Notice to try to stifle a controversial ransom demand that the (fictional) prime minister have sex with a pig to secure the release of a member of the royal family.
In the comic book series ''
Transmetropolitan
''Transmetropolitan'' is a cyberpunk transhumanist comic book series written by Warren Ellis and co-created and designed by Darick Robertson; it was published by the American company DC Comics in 1997–2002. The series was originally part of t ...
'' (1997), a legally binding type of D-Notice is issued by the US President in an attempt to prevent the main character, gonzo journalist
Spider Jerusalem
Spider Jerusalem is a fictional character and the protagonist of the comic book ''Transmetropolitan'', created by writer Warren Ellis and artist Darick Robertson, introduced under the now-defunct Helix imprint of DC Comics before being moved to t ...
, from exposing police corruption and a government-sponsored massacre.
The film ''
Defence of the Realm
''Defence of the Realm'' is a 1986 British political thriller film directed by David Drury, starring Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi, and Denholm Elliott, with Robbie Coltrane in a supporting role.
The film takes its title from the Defence of the ...
'' (1986) illustrates the implications of the D-Notice protocols.
In the film ''
The Bank Job
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' (2008), MI5 discusses issuing a D-Notice about sensitive photos stolen from a safe deposit box during a bank heist.
In the film ''
Official Secrets'' (2019), a journalist from ''The Observer'' questions whether a D-Notice would be applied to a story which exposes intelligence leaked by a GCHQ employee.
In Season 2 (2021) of the
Sky One
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
television drama series ''
COBRA'', the Foreign Secretary points out that a D-Notice could be issued to prevent unwanted journalistic reporting, and has it pointed out to him by the Head of MI5 that they are now called DSMA-Notices.
In Season 4 Episode 1 (2017) of
''Sherlock'', Mycroft Holmes mentions putting out a D-Notice to prevent any unauthorised disclosure of the contents of the meeting held behind closed doors.
In Season 2 Episode 2 of the BBC series The Capture (2019), at 32 minutes in, DSU Gemma Garland (played by Lia Williams) mentions 'you can't broadcast it; we'll slap a D-Notice on it.'
See also
*
*
Classified information in the United Kingdom Classified information in the United Kingdom is a system used to protect information from intentional or inadvertent release to unauthorised readers. The system is organised by the Cabinet Office and is implemented throughout central and local gove ...
*
Media blackout
Media blackout is the censorship of news related to a certain topic, particularly in mass media, for any reason. A media blackout may be voluntary, or may in some countries be enforced by the government or state. The latter case is controversial in ...
*
Prior restraint
Prior restraint (also referred to as prior censorship or pre-publication censorship) is censorship imposed, usually by a government or institution, on expression, that prohibits particular instances of expression. It is in contrast to censorship ...
*
Right to be forgotten
The right to be forgotten (RTBF) is the right to have private information about a person be removed from Internet searches and other directories under some circumstances. The concept has been discussed and put into practice in several jurisdiction ...
, sometimes called a "G-notice"
[Editorialists have dubbed this the "G-notice", as ]Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
delivers notices to news publications that their articles cannot be indexed.
*
Super-injunctions in English law
In English tort law, a super-injunction is a type of injunction that prevents publication of information that is in issue and also prevents the reporting of the fact that the injunction exists at all. The term was coined by a ''Guardian'' journa ...
References
Further reading
* Publication delayed pages covering 1997–2004, TNA DEFE 53/21.
External links
*{{official website, http://dsma.uk
National Archives of Australia
Censorship in the United Kingdom
Censorship in Australia
1912 introductions
1912 establishments in the United Kingdom
Broadcasting in the United Kingdom
Mass media in the United Kingdom