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David McBride (whistleblower)

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David McBride
McBride in 2024
Born
David William McBride

(1963-12-15) 15 December 1963 (age 60)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia[1]
NationalityAustralian
Alma mater
Height188 cm (6 ft 2 in)[2]
Political party
Criminal chargesTheft and Sharing Classified Documents With Press
Criminal penalty5 years 8 months incarceration (non-parole period of two years and three months)
Criminal statusIncarcerated in Alexander Maconochie Centre, Canberra
Spouse
Sarah Green
​
(until 2016)​
Parents
Military career
Allegiance
  • United Kingdom
  • Australia
Service / branch
Years of service1980s–1990s
2002/03–2017
UnitBlues and Royals[a]
Battles / warsOperation Banner
War in Afghanistan[b]
Websitedavidmcbride.com.au

David William McBride (born 15 December 1963)[3] is an Australian whistleblower and former British Army major and Australian Army lawyer. In 2016, McBride provided the Australian Broadcasting Corporation with documents that contained information about war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.[4]

In 2018, McBride was charged with several offences related to unlawfully disclosing Commonwealth documents. In 2023, he pleaded guilty to the charges. On 14 May 2024, McBride was sentenced to 5 years and 8 months in prison, with a non-parole period of 2 years and 3 months.[5]

Early life

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McBride was born in 1963 to William McBride, an obstetrician in Sydney, and Patricia McBride (née Glover), also a doctor.[6][2][7] He has two sisters, Catherine and Louise, and one brother, John.[8][2]

He graduated in law at the Sydney University and then obtained a scholarship to take a second degree in the same subject at Oxford University.[2]

Career

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McBride joined the British Army and served in Germany before training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and then commanding a Blues and Royals platoon in Northern Ireland.[2] He left the army after failing to complete the entry requirements for the Special Air Service.[2]

After a period in civilian life, including security work in Rwanda and Zaire, a stint as a "tracker" on the 1990s British reality-style television game show, Wanted,[2] as security adviser to the series Journeys to the Ends of the Earth, and an unsuccessful 2003 attempt to win a New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat representing Coogee, for the Liberal Party,[9][10] he enlisted in the Australian Army as a lawyer.[2]

McBride twice deployed to Afghanistan, in 2011 and 2013.[4][2] He was medically discharged with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2017.[2]

In 2023, McBride published his memoir The Nature of Honour.[11]

Leak of military documents

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In 2016, McBride leaked classified military documents to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).[2] McBride had previously raised concerns within the Australian Defence Force about the dangers of increasingly restrictive rules of engagement and the nature of investigations into members of the special forces.[2][12] The ABC found evidence of war crimes and published the information in their 2017 publication The Afghan Files.[13][14] McBride was allegedly unhappy with ABC's reporting of his documents.[12][15]

In September 2018, McBride was arrested at Sydney Airport[12] and charged with the theft of Commonwealth property contrary to s 131(1) of the Criminal Code Act 1995; in March 2019 he was charged with a further four offences: three of breaching s 73A(1) of the Defence Act 1903; and another of "unlawfully disclosing a Commonwealth document contrary to s 70(1) of the Crimes Act 1914".[16][17][18][19][6] McBride pleaded not guilty to each of the charges at a 30 May 2019 preliminary hearing.[16][20] His legal team included Nick Xenophon and Mark Davis.[4][21]

In October 2022, it was reported that the case against McBride would proceed to trial. McBride and his lawyers had tried to get the prosecution dropped by applying for protection under Australia's whistleblower laws. This application relied on expert testimony of two witnesses. However, the Australian Government moved to prevent his testimony from being heard on national security grounds. Consequently McBride and his team dropped the application to stop the trial saying "there was little prospect of success without their evidence".[22]

During the case, McBride's lawyers stated he acted out of concern about the nature of the Defence Force's “excessive investigation of soldiers” in Afghanistan.[23][24] McBride believed the investigations were a "PR exercise" to compensate for earlier public allegations of war crimes. Justice David Mossop stated "the way you've explained it is that the higher-ups might have been acting illegally by investigating these people too much, and that that was the source of the illegality that was being exposed."[25] The prosecution voiced concerns about military personnel being "able to act by reference to something as nebulous as the public interest".[25]

McBride pleaded guilty on 17 November 2023.[26] The plea came after Justice Mossop ruled that he would instruct the incoming jury that McBride was not bound to act in the public interest under his oath of service.[27] The government were also allowed to claim public-interest immunity for documents McBride's defence team sought to use.[28] No appeal was allowed for either decision, and on 14 May 2024, McBride was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison.[29]

Personal life

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McBride has two daughters from a former marriage, to Sarah (née Green). The couple separated in 2016.[2]

A portrait of McBride, titled The Whistleblower, by Kate Stevens won the 2023 Portia Geach Memorial Award.[30]

In 2023, Crikey named McBride their Person of the Year.[31]

Notes

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  1. ^ With the British Army
  2. ^ With the Australian Army

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Cadzow, Jane (2 March 2024). "David McBride on whistleblowing, his famous dad – and a possible jail sentence". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wroe, David (22 June 2019). "'What I've done makes sense to me': The complicated, colourful life of David McBride". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  3. ^ McBride, David (November 2023). The Nature of Honour. Viking Press. pp. 30, 206. ISBN 9781760897994.
  4. ^ a b c Xenophon, Nick (17 November 2020). "If moral courage matters, this whistleblower needs defending". The Age. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Former military lawyer David McBride jailed for sharing classified information with journalists". ABC News. 14 May 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  6. ^ a b Knaus, Christopher (7 March 2019). "Whistleblower charged with exposing alleged military misconduct 'not afraid to go to jail'". The Guardian.
  7. ^ Wallace, Chris (18 November 2023). "David McBride's whistleblower defence crashes". The Saturday Paper. Archived from the original on 18 November 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  8. ^ "Doctor who alerted the world to the dangers of thalidomide". The Sydney Morning Herald. 18 July 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
  9. ^ Green, Antony. "2003 Coogee". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
  10. ^ "Former soldier sets his sights on Labor seat". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 July 2002. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  11. ^ McBride, David (November 2023). "'The leadership rewarded and encouraged dishonesty'". Australian Financial Review.
  12. ^ a b c Masters, Chris (2023). Flawed Hero. Allen & Unwin. p. 107. ISBN 1761069810. Yet McBride was not happy with the way the ABC had used the material he had provided. His primary concern was not for the Afghan people but for Australia's special forces soldiers, whom he saw as being dangerously restricted by the rules of engagement and punitive oversight. He agitated for the operators to have more freedom of action. He criticised Defence leadership for increasing the risk to their soldiers for the political dividend of avoiding civilian casualties.
  13. ^ Murphy, Katharine (19 November 2020). "We knew the war crimes inquiry would be bad – but this is gut-wrenching and nauseating". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  14. ^ Visontay, Elias; Knaus, Christopher (6 November 2020). "Inquiry into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan delivers final report". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  15. ^ O'Mallon, Finbar (October 2019). "Judge's warning for defence whistleblower". The Canberra Times. "According to the documents, McBride was unhappy with the angle Mr Oakes had pursued, believing it wasn't consistent with the complaints he made, and the two stopped talking before the story was published."
  16. ^ a b "ABC Alumni Limited Submission to Senate Standing committee On Environment and Communications' References Committee: Inquiry into the adequacy of Commonwealth laws and frameworks covering the disclosure and reporting of sensitive and classified information". 29 August 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  17. ^ "Afghan Files whistleblower David McBride's trial delayed to protect state secrets". The Guardian. 13 June 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  18. ^ Burgess, Katie (9 November 2020). "Afghanistan inquiry: Calls to drop prosecution of whistleblower David McBride". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  19. ^ Burgess, Katie (19 November 2020). "The Afghanistan inquiry: what we know so far". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  20. ^ Maiden, Samantha (5 June 2019). "Whistleblower behind ABC raid stands by Afghan leaks". The New Daily. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  21. ^ Burgess, Katie (19 November 2020). "Afghanistan inquiry: Calls to drop prosecution of whistleblower David McBride". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  22. ^ "David McBride will face prosecution after blowing whistle on alleged war crimes in Afghanistan". The Guardian. 27 October 2022.
  23. ^ Basford Canales, Sarah (14 May 2024). "David McBride: former army lawyer sentenced to five years for stealing and leaking Afghanistan war documents". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 June 2024. "His counsel Stephen Odgers argued that McBride came to believe the ADF adopted a policy of "excessive investigation of soldiers" around 2013 to compensate for earlier war crime allegations levelled against Australian special forces soldiers that had been made public. McBride believed those within the "highest levels" of the military had concocted a "PR exercise", the court heard."
  24. ^ Byrne, Elizabeth (November 2023). "David McBride came back to Australia for a father and daughter dance. It set in motion years of legal woes". ABC.
  25. ^ a b Thompson, Angus (November 2023). "Blindly obeying orders 'ignores Nuremberg': Whistleblower's lawyer". Sydney Morning Herald.
  26. ^ Knaus, Christopher; Basford Canales, Sarah (November 2023). "Whistleblower David McBride pleads guilty after court rules to withhold evidence over 'security' risk". The Guardian.
  27. ^ Byrne, Elizabeth; Mannheim, Markus (17 November 2023). "Military lawyer David McBride pleads guilty to unlawfully sharing secret allegations of Australian war crimes". ABC.
  28. ^ Thompson, Angus (November 2023). "Commonwealth argues against handing more intel to whistleblower as trial delayed". ABC.
  29. ^ "Former military lawyer David McBride jailed for sharing classified information with journalists". ABC News. 14 May 2024. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  30. ^ McDonald, John (22 November 2023). "War, wildlife and weirdness dominate this women's art prize". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  31. ^ Lewis, Charles (21 December 2023). "Crikey's Person of the Year for 2023 is…". Crikey.

Further reading

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