Editorial: SAS secrecy already shot

OPINION: The Government had little choice this week but to signal an easing of the curtain of silence surrounding the SAS.

After a furore over the publication of pictures in the media of Corporal Willie Apiata, VC, there was little left for Prime Minister John Key and defence bosses to do but acknowledge the game had changed since our most famous secret soldier had been photographed on the streets of Kabul.

Mr Key grudgingly acknowledged that foreign forces give their media more information, highlighting the bizarre situation of people overseas often knowing more of SAS activities than us.

There has been the previous example of a Norwegian general revealing Kiwi SAS troops were taking over from his countrymen, while in the latest case it was a New York Times reporter who confirmed our boys' involvement last week at the scene of one of the bloodiest attacks in Kabul for months.

This illustrates the global nature of media and the futility of trying to prevent or discourage New Zealand media reporting or using images of events involving our people which are already in the public domain offshore.

With the pictures being widely available, and after the hoopla about Apiata's VC, even Mr Key admitted that once the decision had been made to deploy him again it was always likely he would be identified.

"He is one of the most high-profile soldiers in the world."

As for the matter of whether Corporal Apiata's face should have been published in the first place, it's worth remembering that it was the Government and military who decided to unmask him when acknowledging his bravery.

If this paper thought there was a realistic chance of Apiata being in more danger through publication, we would not have done it.

It was no secret that the SAS had returned to Afghanistan, where Apiata walked without helmet in a public place in full view of locals and journalists reporting for international media.

It was the lack of context around what exactly the SAS was up to in Afghanistan that quickly generated just the kind of publicity the military was eager to avoid.

Apiata's steely gaze and reports from eyewitnesses that the Kiwi pair emerged from a building in which the bodies of three insurgents were found left the impression of Kiwi troops at the sharp end of major combat.

The reality revealed this week was less dramatic, and these are the things the public could reasonably expect to know in future should it not endanger the soldiers involved.

A certain level of secrecy will remain but the public can now expect to be better informed of what their soldiers are doing. Ironically, anti-war Green MP Keith Locke summed it up best.

"In our democracy, the armed forces should be as straight with the people as possible, without endangering security or the effectiveness of future operations."

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