Duncan Campbell

It is very interesting to note that, at the height of the "storm", Nick Wilkinson told me on the phone that not one of those provincial journalists had bothered to check with him before publishing the attacks on myself and my website. Not very professional, was it?

It seems that those journalists had lots of "white space" to fill, but not many brain cells to do it with! Some of those "synaptically challenged" hacks were uncharacteristically shy and retiring too. They didn't feel able to attach their names to the attacks and just used bylines like, "By Staff Writer", etc. Now, I wonder why that was!

Comically - dare I say it, hysterically - they didn't even notice that I'd used exactly the same online research tools on my Emmerdale Page to reveal "secret" filming locations for the popular long running Yorkshire Television (YTV) soap opera! The filming locations are only "secret" in the sense that, in return for use of the locations, YTV are not allowed to publish details about them because of legally binding contracts with the locations' owners. Obviously, over the years, many people have found and visited the locations themselves and the information is therefore public domain. Members of the public not employed by YTV (such as myself) are not subject to the terms of those contracts.

Nick Fielding

After asking for Mr. Wilkinson's comments, Nick Fielding was quickly reassured that the D-Notice committee had no objections to any of my website's contents and so the Sunday Times never ran a story, although Nick Fielding didn't intend to attack me anyway. In June 2004, he contacted me personally to offer his support and to express his shock at my website's apparent demise.

In October 2005, Mr. Fielding left the Sunday Times to pursue exciting new book and TV projects, but continues to write newspaper articles, specialising in intelligence and terrorism issues, in a freelance capacity.

When the D-Notice Committee's Nick Wilkinson viewed my website in February 2004 (four months before the "storm"), he also brought it to the attention of the senior management of Ordnance Survey, the UK's national mapping agency, who were suitably amused at my gently poking fun at them. They managed to laugh in all the right places whilst following the text, just as thousands of my regular website visitors did, with no problem.

So why did the journalists on those local papers around the UK just not "get it"? Could it be that they had their own agenda? Were they actually trying to stir up trouble where there wasn't any? Were they deliberately trying to strike unfounded fear in the British people, already genuinely anxious about real events around the world?

Of course, back in June 2004, I kept the original emails sent to me by those journalists - obviously complete with authenticating headers identifying their full origin - in a secure place. On the face of it, the emails seemed to be styled quite innocently, apparently merely asking for my opinions on other websites similar to mine and asking for my comments on Ordnance Survey's habit of "hiding" MoD-related sites. Additionally, I was asked to outline and justify my own website's aims. I replied to each journalist immediately and helpfully, in terms as outlined in this web page. Namely, I explained my website's aims, the two key issues of "public domain" information and "open source" material and, of course, I pointed-out that the MoD itself had viewed my website and had found nothing problematical.

I am not naïve - I wasn't entirely surprised that my speedy and helpful email replies had been totally ignored and the journalists had gone ahead and printed personally damaging articles which had clearly been written and completed in advance of any email approaches to me. Some journalists have always behaved in this manner and some will always continue to do so.

In the light of the subsequent developments, which edged ever nearer to defamation and libel, the content of those emails now read very much like evidence of attempted entrapment. At the time of the "storm", I was strongly urged by several high profile authoritative advisors to make a formal approach to the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) and report those journalists for harassment and misrepresentation.

Being world weary and cynical, I realised that the media industry would only close ranks within its own "secret society" and I would most likely end up being pilloried even further. You only need to view the PCC's quarterly summaries on its website to realise that only a tiny percentage of complaints received are even taken-up formally - never mind upheld.

© Archant

The Internet hands extraordinary power to ordinary people like myself; the sort of power previously only afforded to those at the helm of established print and broadcast media organisations. Ponder on the (purely hypothetical) scenario as follows:-

Imagine how unfortunate it would be if those original emails, complete with my helpful replies, were to somehow "spill over" into the public domain. If that were to happen in the UK, my ISP would most likely threaten to withdraw my service. But what if - heaven forbid - the material were to miraculously find its way onto an American website? Not that I'm thinking of any one American website in particular ...

In December 2004 - six months after I found myself in the "eye" of the Media Hysteria "storm" - I stumbled upon a very high quality JPEG image of the original journalist who set in motion the chain of events which I describe on this page. I also unearthed evidence that the very same journalist has regularly lurked on various Google Groups, posting messages designed for entrapment, in order to gather material for sensationalist tabloid exposés. By definition, those Google Group messages and the JPEG image are already public domain. That JPEG photo is still currently sitting in my "pending tray".

It's amazing what you can find "just a few clicks away" on the Internet nowadays, isn't it?

For the record, the "Secret Bases" Page is meant to be a light-hearted, humourous, entertaining and yet serious and informative guide to using Internet based research tools in the 21st Century. The much-awaited introduction of a Freedom of Information Act in the UK in 2005 is upon us. As an aside, my website's additional aim is to highlight the apparent discrepancies between official Ordnance Survey maps and the reality of what is on the ground, as revealed by aerial photographs which have been widely available online for many years. I always hoped that my website would be welcomed in the spirit it was intended - bringing together "entertainment" and "information" – infotainment, if you will!

Experts like Nick Wilkinson, Nick Fielding and Duncan Campbell have been aware for some considerable time that websites like mine and those of Multimap, Getmapping, et al, represent the baseline of information that is readily available to anyone.

As the Government pointed out when asked to comment on my website, there are no "Secret Bases" in the UK - but obviously plenty of the full detail of what goes on at such sites (which I do not and clearly cannot know) is covered by the Official Secrets Act. Many people following my website from its first publication would have noticed that my website title has always used the phrase "Secret Bases" in quotation marks!

All the information contained in the web page is fully public domain and has been for many years. Indeed, I have sourced much of the material from official UK Government and MoD websites. I even presented a bibliography of these sites at the end of the page for further reading!

My original interview was several minutes long and the cameraman shot much supporting material. In the final edited transmission, the ITV News journalist Damon Green started off my segment with, "Those familiar with the public face of the secret world say it's information that was always available, but today is available to anyone".

I was then shown giving my "sound bite" to camera: "Any information, however it's presented, is going to be of benefit to some people. Whether they choose to use that information in a nefarious manner or not – that's up to them".

ITN's Damon Green concluded his item with, "British Security Services [MI5] say that anyone who really intends to mount an attack would need much more information [than shown on Google Earth]".

A senior Virgin executive later confirmed some temporary minor infrastructure glitches coupled with an almighty cock-up! The official server logs indicated no attempts at external interference, but it was certainly unfortunate that the problems only affected MY website and nobody else's. The stuff that conspiracy theories are made of!

It seems that after I had originally complained by telephone about the glitches, an offshore call centre worker deleted my whole website contents without authority, in a blundering attempt at a "fix"! He has since been formally reprimanded. The executive made an offer of a modest compensation payment and confirmed that the company is very happy to continue hosting my website and has no objections to any of its contents.

A BBC Radio 4 documentary team was attracted to my website through all this coverage. They approached me to act as research consultant on a programme in September 2006 about a secret SAS close protection and defensive driving training base deep in the English countryside. Read all about it in Secret Bases!

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller Director General, MI5 October 2002 - April 2007 © Crown Copyright

Jonathan Evans Director General, MI5 April 2007 onwards © Crown Copyright

I was reassuringly relieved that Dame Eliza had not heard about me or my website! In turn, she was suitably reassured to hear of my regular approaches to the D-Notice office. She introduced me to her PA and MI5's Head of Corporate Communications, the Media Liaison Officer, who WAS fully aware of me and my site and he personally thanked me for my continued responsible publishing activities.

After Dame Eliza retired, she was succeeded in April 2007 by her deputy Jonathan Evans. He entered the Security Service in the early 1980s, working in counter-espionage, but soon became involved in counter-terrorism. I caught-up with Mr. Evans at the D-Notice event in November 2008.

So all this goes to show that, contrary to ill-informed Media Hysteria generating critics, websites like mine can legitimately entertain and inform using open sources of public domain information, whilst not breaching any laws or putting national security at risk. All it takes is a responsible attitude to Internet publishing, something that has now been acknowledged publicly at the highest level.

Stubborn critics of Secret Bases can now be finally silenced and regular readers can now feel that their loyal support has been formally vindicated.

Now read on for the original Twist in the Tale to the Media Hysteria story from 2004!

Sir Kevin Tebbit © Crown Copyright

In October 2007, after 10 years service, it was announced that Robert Hutchinson had retired as D-Notice Vice Chairman, to be replaced by Simon Bucks from Sky News – the first ever broadcaster to hold the position.

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller Director General, MI5 October 2002 - April 2007 © Crown Copyright

Jonathan Evans Director General, MI5 April 2007 onwards © Crown Copyright

Nor was my body - with a bullet in the head - thrown from a speeding car driven by an MI5 agent and then dumped at the steps of MI5's Thames House Headquarters on Millbank, pictured below (reference: BBC TV Drama "Spooks", Series 3, episode 1 - broadcast in the UK, 11th October 2004).

Everyone who knows me will testify that I still have the boyish good looks and clear complexion that proved such a hit with the girls when I was a teenager (!) and so I wasn't poisoned with Dioxin either!

On the evening of the D-Notice Committee Reception, it was no real surprise that certain journalists' names were missing from the official guest list. They wouldn't have been able to make it anyway - they were probably still tidying away the paper clips in the stationery cupboards at the offices of those provincial newspapers. Bless!