In the United Kingdom, 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 originally called a Defence Notice (D-Notice) from 1912 to 1993, and DA-Notice (Defence Advisory Notice) from 1993 until the mid-2010s.
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 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 (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 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 counsellors. 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.
The Guardian has 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. The Times 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.
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.
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.