The Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee is the British advisory body which issues DA-Notices. The secretary is a former two-star military officer employed from a Ministry of Defence budget and is housed by them (although technically independent) and the committee is made up of senior civil servants and representatives of national media organisations. In 1993 the committee was renamed from the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Committee.
Contents
Membership
The committee consists of five government representatives and 16 media representatives. The five government positions on the committee are all ex officio - the chairman is always the current Permanent Under Secretary of the Ministry of Defence. The 2nd Permanent Under Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, the Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary, the Permanent Under Secretary of the Home Office and the Deputy Under Secretary from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are the other officers. The Vice Chairman is chosen by the press members from among their number.
The media representatives are nominated by the following organisations:
Actions
On 25 November 2010, the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee sent DA-Notices to UK newspapers regarding an expected major publication by WikiLeaks of a "huge cache" of United States (US) diplomatic cables. Index on Censorship presented this as part of "a harm minimisation strategy the US government has embarked on [with] an impressive briefing campaign, reaching out to allies across the world."