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22 July 2008

The Minister for Intelligence Services, Ronnie Kasrils (MP) welcomes the finding of Judge Moroa Tsoka of the Johannesburg High Court in the matter between the National Intelligence Agency and Business Day Financial Mail Publishers (BDFM Publishers). The matter relates to Business Day's intention last Thursday, 17 July 2008 to publish on the following day the contents (or a portion of the contents) of a classified document obtained from an unauthorised source.

In deciding on the matter, the High Court ordered Business Day to pay the cost of the application; not to publicise Document "X" or any part thereof; that no other person is entitled to be in possession of Document "X" or Annexure "A" or publicise the contents of the document without the authority and permission of the applicant.

During legal argument yesterday, the Business Day conceded that all copies of Document "X" should be returned to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) immediately.

While the Minister regards as important the right of citizens to have access to state information and the right to media freedom, he pointed out that there are clear constitutional and legal requirements concerning classified state information. The intention of the Business Day to publish classified information is highly unacceptable and unheard of in democracies anywhere in the world.

The High Court order clearly shows that there are standards of propriety that must be adhered to. The publication of classified information obtained in an unauthorised manner threatens legitimate intelligence operations and undermines national security.

The recent Constitutional Court majority judgment (Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd. vs. Minister for Intelligence Services) is instructive in this regard, stating that "a leaked confidential document does not lose its classification. If it were so, people may be encouraged to reap the benefit of their own misconduct by leaking classified or protected documents and thereby rendering the documents beyond the protection they may deserve."

Legislation on the protection of information, unauthorised disclosure of classified information and the possession of classified state information by a person not security competent, are clear and available on the websites of the Intelligence Services. The obligation and responsibility to secure classified state information falls within the counter-intelligence mandate of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

The Weekender report "NIA launches bid to gag Business Day", 19 July 2008, stating that NIA prevented the newspaper from publishing a story that could "shed light on the relationship between the National Intelligence Agency and political institutions" is without basis, malicious and amounts to misinformation. We further take offence to the Business Day's assertion that the National Intelligence Agency's action to protect classified information was an attempt to "gag" the paper.

The Minister is confident that the NIA has performed its functions within its legal mandate and that NIA was not engaged in any unlawful activity whatsoever. As such, he welcomes the court order and trusts that this judgement will make clear to Business Day and the media generally their responsibility and necessity to fully respect the country's standards of information security in our democracy.

Our country has opened up the public access to information in an unprecedented manner and the media should not seek to exploit this to the detriment of our legitimate security.

Enquiries may be directed to:
Lorna Daniels
Tel: 012 367 0724
Cell: 082 418 3389

Issued by: Ministry for Intelligence Services
22 July 2008
Source: SAPA