Government to reveal details of SAS deployments

Lieutenant General Jerry Mateparae, centre, with Defence Minister Wayne Mapp, left and Prime Minister John Key. Photo / NZPA

The Government has announced it will reveal details of SAS deployments overseas just days after the New Zealand Herald published a photo of soldiers on patrol in Kabul.

In a marked change to previous policy on the secretive elite Army unit, Prime Minister John Key promised to be more open so long as there was no "material" danger to soldiers.

The New Zealand Herald came under heavy criticism for its decision to publish the photo, by a French photographer, of two unidentified SAS soldiers in Kabul, Afghanistan. One was later revealed by the Prime Minister to be Willie Apiata, who won a VC for his actions under fire in Afghanistan.

Increasingly, details of SAS deployments have leaked out through overseas media covering wars; last week the New York Times revealed that the SAS were present after a Taleban attack on Kabul.

At a press conference at 4.30pm, the Chief of the Defence Force Lieutenant General Jerry Mateparae, said Apiata had been told "to be more careful" after taking off his helmet and being photographed by a French photographer.

He revealed the SAS were not involved in last week's fighting in Kabul, in which Afghan soldiers quelled attacks on the capital by Taleban fighters.

Mr Mateparae said he would have preferred Apiata's face to have been pixelated in the photographs used by the New Zealand Herald and other media.

But he was very pleased the public wanted to know more about SAS activities and comfortable that they could know more in future.

Mr Key said: "The reason we are extremely careful with that information is to protect the safety and security of our people," he says.

However, the Prime Minister says, where possible, more information will be released to the public.

"Without compromising the safety and security of the operations and personnel involved, New Zealanders deserve to know what our forces are doing overseas."

Key says any comment on operations will be assessed on a case by case basis.

Corporal Apiata received saturation coverage in 2007 when he was awarded the Victoria Cross for an act of bravery in action in Afghanistan in 2004.

He was photographed last week in Kabul with another unidentified New Zealand soldier by French photographer Philip Poupin.

The publication of the photos caused debate in the media about whether the media should be able to cover the actions of the elite SAS unit, with some critics saying coverage could endanger their lives but others saying the public had the right to know what was being done by the unit so long as it was not endangering covert operations.

At a press conference today, Mr Key said the Government would seek to reveal details of deployments and actions where it was sure there was no possibility of causing any "material" danger to soldiers.

In an editorial on Saturday, the Weekend Herald defended its publication of the photo, saying that the SAS carried New Zealand's name into conflicts to which it was dispatched.

"It is becoming our only combative presence. It represents us just as much as politicians and diplomats do, and just as we ought to be told what politicians and diplomats are doing in our name we should be told, within reasonable bounds of operational security, what our forces are doing. Where the SAS is concerned we are told almost nothing. Twice now we have learned a little of their activities only through a casual mention in foreign media, which appear to face no such secrecy from their own national forces, even special forces."