MoD blocks Wikileaks

Whistleblower site made off-limits to personnel after publishing operations manuals used by troops

The Ministry of Defence is trying to block all internet access to the whistleblowing site Wikileaks from thousands of its own computers after discovering that dissidents have been using it to leak copies of British military manuals.

Newly obtained MoD emails reveal alarm over the discovery that Wikileaks is freely publishing manuals that are used by patrols in Iraq.

One email says: "There are thousands of things on here, I literally mean thousands. Not just UK MoD but other places as well. Everything I clicked on to do with MoD was 'restricted' ... It is huge."

Dismay was sparked by the discovery that Wikileaks had posted copies of a 2007 manual on UK tactics for Iraq and Afghanistan, and a handbook on Istar (intelligence surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance) on its website.

The Iraq "stability operations" manual contains details on how to organise roadblocks, conduct searches and tackle suicide bombers, advising: "Immediate incapacitation of the suicide bomber, using lethal force, is likely to be the only means of stopping him." More