Is it ethical to name officers in combat – or returnees? The Daily Nation did that, probably unaware of potential ramifications.
At face value, it was actually a great feature story. The title said, “Breaking the combat glass ceiling: Kenya’s all-women Haiti mission marks historic shift in security sector”.
More than just being entertaining, the October 25 story by Dr Okumba Miruka was also news, albeit without attribution.
The story picked up on recent media reports that Kenya would send an all-women contingent of police officers to join the ongoing international mission to rid Haiti of gangs.
The story recalled that Kenya had already sent women soldiers to combat in Somali.
But it didn’t stop there. The story named the women soldiers who went to fight Al Shabaab. Six women soldiers.
And that is where it all went down the rabbit hole.
The story identified the roles these six soldiers undertook in Somali – combat helicopter pilot, communications expert, heavy machinery operator, defensive strategies coordinator, community economic empowerment specialist, and armoured vehicle driver.
It got worse. The story published the soldiers’ names and rank – without showing how these were obtained.
In other words, the Nation completely exposed enemies of Al Shabaab. Do you want to do that?
Terrorists read newspapers, too. Do you want to tell them who came to root them out? Do you want to lead terrorists to soldiers’ doorsteps?
In 2011, US President Barack Obama ordered the dreaded Navy SEAL Team Six to go and kill Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. When the SEALs returned victorious to US soil, at some point they came to meet with the President, who thanked them.
It is said President Obama asked who among them took the killer shot. The team declined to give this information to their commander-in-chief. They all took the credit, as a team.
Two of the SEALs would later give TV interviews under heavy disguise and write books under pseudonyms, respectively. But it’s never been clear who took the killer shot.
Before certain security procedures are declassified, standard international practice is to not name soldiers in combat.
Did the Nation consider security questions before naming Kenya’s women who went to war with an enemy that can still come knocking in the night?
