CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Joint Services Publication 440

2001 British restricted-security manual

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ6269378 ↗
Source-derived summary

Joint Services Publication 440 ("JSP 440") is the name of a British 2001 Ministry of Defence 2,400-page restricted security manual, detailing the requirements for units with regards to all areas of security both physical and electronic. This has been interpreted in the media as instructions for avoiding leaks due to hackers, journalists, and foreign spies; however, that is only a small part of the document.

The publication was posted on WikiLeaks on 3 October 2009.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Joint Services Publication 440” as 2001 British restricted-security manual. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Joint, Services and Publication.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2001, 2009—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Joint, Services and Publication providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Joint Services Publication 440”, the useful work is to connect “2001 British restricted-security manual” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6269378. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2001 and 2009.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Joint Services Publication 440”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Joint Services Publication 440 primary sources, Joint Services Publication 440 archive and Joint research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Joint Services Publication 440”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Joint Services Publication 440” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.