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Vol. 21, No.4/Summer 1999

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Tracking Down "Secrets" to Defend African Journalists

Rick Mastroianni By Rick Mastroianni

About two months ago, I fielded a request from the Freedom Forum’s African Center to provide information in support of six Zambian journalists accused of espionage. The charges stemmed from an article published March 9 in Zambia’s independent The Post that suggested the Zambian army was not capable of withstanding an attack from neighboring Angola. Zambian officials alleged that the article disclosed military secrets.

The assignment: demonstrate that information about the troop strength and military equipment deployed by specific countries can be found in publicly available sources.

First, I contacted Jane’s Information Group (www.janes.com) and obtained material from Jane’s World Armies that provided an overview of the Zambian military, including information on  its command and control, organization and equipment in service,  recent operations and procurement detail.

A Nexis search then yielded a March 22, 1999, Washington Post article titled "Spying Intelligence Data Can be an Open Book Test." The article profiled Robert D. Steele of Open Source Solutions (www.oss.net), one company among "a growing number of intelligence entrepreneurs" that access publicly available sources to provide clients (including the intelligence community) with similar information. Says Steele, "I’m not a librarian saying open sources are good. I’m a former spy saying open sources are good." The OSS Web site provides extensive links and resources for accessing publicly available information.

I also found an Associated Press article that described 1998 U.S. espionage case in which defense attorneys argued that a legal assistant found "in 15 minutes on the Internet" portions of a report prosecutors considered secret.

All of this information was turned over to our African Center and passed on to attorneys for the journalists. The case is pending.

Rick Mastroianni is a librarian at the Freedom Forum World Center. He can be reached at rmastroianni@freedomforum.org

 


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