MoD anti-leak guide leaked on to the internet

[TonyGosling]

MoD as anti-leak guide gets leaked on to the internet
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218315/MoDs-anti-leak-guide-g ets-leaked-internet.html

By Daily Mail Reporter - 05th October 2009


The Ministry of Defence was left embarrassed tonight after its internal guide to preventing leaks appeared on the internet.

The Defence Manual of Security sets out tactics for preventing Chinese and Russian intelligence services from using blackmail or hi-tech gadgets to obtain sensitive information.

The UK MoD Manual of Security, which contains the UK military protocol for security and counter-intelligence operations, is available on Wikileaks

The three-volume, 560,000-word guide - marked 'Restricted' - was released on the Wikileaks website, which campaigns for freedom of information.

But the MoD insisted the publication did not pose 'significant security concerns' because it dates from 2001.

The document branded Chinese intelligence activity 'widespread', with a 'voracious appetite for all kinds of information'.

While China was 'at least a generation behind the West' in key military areas, it was trying to 'acquire illegally the technology that will enable them to catch up'.

'The real danger is that they will then produce advanced weapons systems which they will sell to unstable regimes,' the manual stated.

'They have a track record of doing so. The consequences for the world's trouble spots and any UK involvement there could be disastrous.'

The guide said Beijing's technique was to 'make friends' rather than 'run agents'.

'Although there are Chinese 'intelligence officers', both civilian and military, these fade into insignificance behind the mass of ordinary students, businessmen and locally employed staff who are working (at least part-time) on the orders of various parts of the State intelligence gathering apparatus.'