Over the last few days, the story of the huge Afghan data leak has finally emerged. It involved the details of thousands of those who helped Western forces during the war. Also now public is the enormous cost of the plan to fix the issue.
This happened thanks to the intrepid work of The Times’ defence editor, Larisa Brown, and some in other media organisations. Brown revealed the truth after a protracted legal fight that included the longest superinjunction ever issued. It is also the only one ever issued by a government.
Her reporting is worth reading in full. You can do so here and here at The Times. BBC News also has a good breakdown of everything we now know.
Everyone in the media understands that some things are a matter of national security. Reactions apply in some legal cases, too, so as not to jeopardise a trial. They should be used sparingly, though. The right to impose such limitations on a free press must not be allowed to be abused.
Afghan Data Leak Exposed by Tough Journalism
In this instance, “the superinjunction meant the government — and its multibillion-pound plan to fix the issue — avoided scrutiny by the public and parliament,” a senior media lawyer explained to me. “Any case where the government use national security and closed-door hearings affects scrutiny of clearly public interest issues,” they added
It’s worth noting that none of this is political. The issue has existed with both the Conservatives and Labour in power. Current defence secretary John Healey said this week that he feels “deeply uncomfortable” about what happened. He also issued an apology, having faced criticism from MPs angry about the superinjunction. It meant that, like the general public, they were not made aware of a serious leak and its fallout.
Brown and her fellow hacks, which included Sam Greenhill from the Daily Mail’s chief reporter Sam Greenhill, The Independent’s social affairs correspondent Holly Bancroft and Global’s Lewis Goodall, had to fight to make this huge error public. “It is objectionable that the court’s order prevents public scrutiny of decision-making on these important topics,” Brown said at one court hearing. She’s right.
In a world of clickbait articles and ephemeral content, Larisa Brown’s work demonstrates the value of genuine investigative journalism.
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