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
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]
In 2023, McBride published his memoir The Nature of Honour.[11]
Leak of military documents
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
McBride has two daughters from a former marriage, to Sarah (née Green). The couple separated in 2016.[2]
^ abcMasters, Chris (2023). Flawed Hero. Allen & Unwin. p. 107. ISBN978-1761069819. 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.
^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.
^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."
.png)
