What's new? I thought senior officers have always been circumscribed in what they can say
A speech by the 1SL caused a debate in parliament in 1951 in which a well known former First Lord of the Admiralty said:
Mr. ChurchillMay I draw the attention of the Minister to the King's Regulations, paragraph 17 (2): All persons belonging to the Fleet are forbidden to write or otherwise to communicate to the Press, or publish or allow to be published, directly or indirectly, any matter or information relating to the Naval Service, or anything of a controversial nature affecting other departments of the public service or relating to matters of public policy, unless the permission of the Admiralty has been first obtained.
2020DIN03-005 Released January 2020
All personnel of 1* rank and above and civilian equivalents must seek approval via DDC Secretariat before accepting any invitation to speak or write publicly on defence or wider government matters whether through the media or another channel, including social media. Requests must be submitted no later than Thursday 9am in the week before the intended communications activity via the online form.
Contentious Issues
All contact with the media and communication in public on contentious topics requires prior approval from DDC. Service and TLB/ALB media staff must direct media enquiries on these topics to DDC-
PR-News and personnel of any rank or grade must seek authorisation before communication on them. The list below provides an indication of such topics, though this is not exhaustive and judgement should be applied. If there is any doubt about whether communications are potentially contentious please talk to service/TLB/ALB communications teams or DDC Secretariat prior to engagement.
- EU Negotiation
- Annual Budget Cycle (ABC)
- Spending Reviews
- SDSR
- Reductions in service and civilian personnel
- Estates/Basing Strategy
- Future Reserves 2020
- Trident/Successor
- Carrier Strike/F35 Lightning
- Materiel Strategy
- Scotland and Defence