In response to the political and media vendetta being waged against former SAS soldier Ben Roberts Smith, VC, veteran advocate and former SAS Doctor Dan Mealey in July wrote to the new ADF Chief, Admiral David Johnston about his concerns.
To the Chief of the Australian Defence Force
Admiral David Johnston AC, RAN
Department of Defence
Russell Offices
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Dear Admiral Johnston,
There comes a moment in every military leader’s career when quiet deference to political winds and procedural inertia must yield to clarity, moral courage, and a principled defence of the truth. For you, and for the tri-service Chiefs of the Australian Defence Force, that moment is now.
I do not envy the position you now occupy. The legacy of your predecessor General Angus Campbell, is one of institutional failure — defined by silence, equivocation, and the betrayal of the very soldiers entrusted to his care. Under his watch, the Australian Defence Force became paralysed in the face of media-led condemnation, sacrificing its moral authority and allowing more than 2,000 veterans to end their own lives in a climate of abandonment and shame. We do not need more of the same. We need better. We need leadership that restores honour, courage, and loyalty — not just on the battlefield, but here at home, where the war for truth and justice is now being fought.
Australia’s Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) is under siege — not by an armed enemy in the field, but by a determined domestic front of ideological hostility. Its assault weapons are not Kalashnikovs, but carefully curated headlines, courtroom theatrics, and reputational sabotage. The aggressor is a faction of the Australian media that has, with unnerving consistency and ideological fervour, declared war on our most elite soldiers. What has emerged is not legitimate investigative journalism, but a politically motivated campaign waged by activists masquerading as reporters — intent on dismantling the medals, morale, and operational legitimacy of our Special Forces.
The threat is grave. And your silence — along with that of your fellow Chiefs — is costing this nation dearly.
I urge you to read the article I published: “Spies, Lies, and Envy: How Our SASR Was Destroyed.”
It presents a detailed and disquieting exposé of how our military elite have been abandoned — first by internal cowardice and intrigue, and now by a broader civilian leadership unwilling to contest the false narratives being sown by a radicalised media.
The assault has been waged through a campaign of accusation without evidence, innuendo without consequence, and insinuation that bypasses every principle of natural justice. It has led to reputational annihilation for decorated soldiers such as Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, VC, MG — despite the fact that not a single war crimes charge has been laid against him nor his fellow SASR personnel.
And yet, what language is being used in the national press? “Disgraced war veteran.” “War criminal.” “Murderer.” These are not the conclusions of military courts. They are the fictions of columnists and television producers — none of whom have ever worn the uniform, never fired a shot in combat, and never navigated the ethics of lethal force in fluid theatres of war. The damage being done to the presumption of innocence, to public understanding of the brutal realities of asymmetric warfare, and to morale within the ADF is incalculable.
In the United Kingdom, the same ideological threats were gathering momentum. Like our own, UK veterans were being dragged through legal purgatory, many with PTSD, their names tarnished and their futures obliterated.
But the UK military leadership responded differently.
The Daily Mail ‘Stop The SAS Betrayal’ campaign has new backing from a former royal aide and SAS officer. Former royal aide and SAS officer Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, a godfather to Prince George, has joined the call for an end to so-called “lawfare.” Read the full story here, and here .
In July 2025, as reported in the Daily Mail, Special Forces officers — including former leaders of the Special Air Service (SAS), the Special Boat Service (SBS) and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) associations— signed an unprecedented open letter condemning “a political witch-hunt” against their soldiers. They called out “malicious” legal pursuits by left-leaning ideologues and affirmed that “the pursuit of British troops through the courts years after events took place is damaging to morale, recruitment and retention.” They concluded unequivocally: “Enough is enough.”
“The current Director of Special Forces, who is responsible for SAS, SBS and SRR operations around the world, has also penned a furious letter on the same issue. Last night these unprecedented moves received emphatic support from former Commanding Officers (COs) of the SAS, leading defence voices and shadow ministers.” — Mark Nicol — Defence and Diplomacy Editor, Daily Mail.
This is leadership. This is solidarity. This is the calibre of moral courage in the last twenty years that has been fundamentally absent within the ADF.
In stark contrast to the powerful response of UK Special Forces leadership, the senior command of the ADF has remained inert — content to allow civilian defamation courts, operating outside military context, to define the ethics, legality, and fate of battlefield decisions. This abdication is unprecedented in our nation’s history. Your office has ceded the narrative space entirely, offering neither defence nor clarity. In so doing, your office has permitted the Australian public to be fed a distorted view of our soldiers as rogues and murderers, rather than men who kill at the behest of their country — often in the greyest moral terrain, where rules of engagement change by the second; where split-second decisions mean life or death.
Do you believe it is reasonable that soldiers should volunteer to kill in war, only to return home and pay millions of dollars to defend their actions in a civilian defamation court — without institutional support, without public backing, and in a vacuum of senior command solidarity?
This silence has demoralised the ranks. It has crippled recruitment and torpedoed retention. It has made clear to every prospective soldier that, should they one day face the enemy in combat, their gravest danger may not come from an insurgent with an IED — but from a journalist with a headline and a vendetta. What young Australian would now choose a life of military sacrifice, only to return home and be cannon fodder for a wealthy media class that profits handsomely from the demonisation of our veterans?
A treasonous narrative is taking root in the national psyche, fuelled by envy and opportunism, by ignorance and ideological spite. And in that moral vacuum — the silence of ADF leadership has been deafening.
Sir, with respect, it is time to speak. It is time to act. It is time for the ADF’s senior leadership to follow the example of your British counterparts in an unequivocal support of your SASR soldiers. This means issuing clear public statements condemning false and misleading characterisations of soldiers in the absence of criminal convictions. It means formally calling out the dangers of politicised litigation. It means ensuring legal, psychological, and moral support for all soldiers facing vexatious accusations. And it means defending the honour of those who have defended this country.
Above all, it means ending the shameful trend whereby suicide becomes the enduring solution for veterans haunted — not by what they did overseas — but by the betrayal they experienced when they came home.
Sir you once told this nation that “I am extremely proud of the men and women of the ADF. Our people are fundamental to all we can and must achieve, you are our capability.” If you believe that, then show it. The hour is late. The battlefield may have shifted from Kandahar to Canberra, but make no mistake: we are still at war. And your soldiers — our soldiers — are still under fire.
With respect,
Dr Daniel Mealey
Former Army Medical Officer
Veteran Advocate
