Shortly after 11.30am on Wednesday, Australian federal police officers entered the ABC’s flagship office in Sydney with a warrant. The warrant related to articles the journalists Dan Oakes and Sam Clark published on 11 July 2017, known as “the Afghan files”, which included allegations Australian special forces soldiers were under scrutiny for war crimes.
The head of the defence force, Angus Campbell, referred the matter to the AFP the following day.
In March this year, a former defence lawyer, David McBride, was charged with five counts of leaking classified information which was alleged to have formed the basis of the reports. He has been committed to stand trial.
Both Oakes and Clark were named in the warrant, along with the ABC head of news, Gaven Morris.
The executive editor of ABC news and head of the ABC’s investigations unit, John Lyons, began live tweeting the raid almost as soon as it began. The ABC was aware AFP officers would be serving a warrant, but only allowed the officers entry under the terms of the warrant.
HAPPENING NOW: AFP raid ABC headquarters in Sydney over a 2017 story on 7.30. @annikasmethurst yesterday, then @BenFordham asked by Home Affairs for a source, now the ABC. Is this the new normal?
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
The scope of the warrant “staggered” Lyons, who said it allowed the AFP to “add, copy, delete or alter,” material in the ABC’s computers.
The warrant is very broad - it includes any material (which I listed earlier) relating to the ABC, the ABC’s National Reporting Team, the Australian Defence Force, the Dept of Defence, the Chief of Army, the Special Air Service (SAS), the 2nd Commando Company...
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
“All Australians, please think about that; as of this moment, the AFP has the power to delete material in the ABC’s computers. Australia 2019.”
I’m about to tweet the first two pages of the warrant. Have a look at page two and see the extraordinary range of people and groups on the list...
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
Page one of warrant... pic.twitter.com/gRJAm8p60B
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
Page 2 of warrant... pic.twitter.com/OfgaNmBER4
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
Lyons reported the ABC’s legal counsel advised the officers “we waive no rights, and reserve [the] right to take [an] injunction against the warrant”. Lyons said AFP officers identified as “digital forensics” experts formed part of the raid team.
AFP: the warrant seeks: “Handwritten/digital notes, diary/ies, correspondence - internal, external, emails & other electronic forms of messaging, minutes, reports, briefing documents, assessments, graphics, sketches, photographs or imagery/vision - drafts & final, story pitch...
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
(Continued) ...planning logs, broadcast and online schedules, raw or unedited footage in its entirety, journalist’s piece to camera, scripts -drafts and finals including voice overs, story boards/plans, status updates, website content, documents classified as ‘secret.’...
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
(Continued) ...together with any manual, instruction, password or other thing that assists to gain access to or interpret or decode any of the above things.” That’s the exact wording on the warrant.
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
AFP RAID LIVE: I won’t reveal the name of the person but from sitting in this room it’s clear that the AFP is trying to gather evidence to build a case against one particular person.
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
In summary, the AFP want anything that at any point may have been involved in this story. This is, in my view, a chilling development for the Australian public. This is not just about the media, this is about the public’s right to know.
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
BREAKING NEWS: TWO MINUTES AGO 4800 ITEMS WERE DOWNLOADED FROM THE ABC’S COMPUTERS - THE ABC LAWYERS AND AFP WILL NOW HAGGLE OVER WHAT IS HANDED OVER AND WHAT IS NOT.
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
Lyons continued to live tweet as the AFP went through more than 9,000 ABC documents.
Now the “culling” begins. ABC and AFP start to use a big screen to go through the 9214 documents to work out which for the warrant and which are not. Pic coming next...
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
Move to the big screen for the “culling”... pic.twitter.com/10HjAFOXS5
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
Now for the really sensitive stuff. They’ve asked for the doors to be closed. (Somehow they haven’t booted me out so I’ll stay as long as I can.) This is a bizarre situation - I’m sitting in a room with 6 AFP officers conducting a raid who seem to be reading my tweets!
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
What’s happening now is on a big screen 9214 documents are being gone through, one by one. “Not relevant,” someone said about one. “What’s a Tardis?” one AFP officer said when he saw the word. “It’s like an editing suite,” someone replied.
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
“Story teasers.” Not a term the AFP has come across before. Incredible range of emails being gone through. Lots of material about the process of journalism. The three AFP digital forensic officers watch like hawks.,
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
“Keep going. Keep going. Defence media unit. Nup, keep going. Nick McKenzie? Different story, keep going”. A sample of the discussion going on right now from AFP. pic.twitter.com/Cim06ybSNT
— John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) June 5, 2019
