The identities of over 100 British officials, including members of
elite special forces (SAS) and MI6 intelligence officers, have been
compromised in a significant data breach that also jeopardized thousands
of Afghans collaborating with the UK. The full extent of the breach,
previously suppressed by a High Court “super-injunction,” was partially
revealed on Thursday after the gagging order was lifted.
The High Court ruling allowed media organizations to report that
detailed case notes within the leaked database contained sensitive
personal information belonging to UK special forces personnel and spies.
This new revelation comes alongside the government’s prior admission on
Tuesday that the data of nearly 19,000 Afghans, who worked with British
forces during the 20-year conflict and applied for resettlement in the
UK, had also been inadvertently disclosed. Many of these individuals
face severe risk, including death, from Taliban retribution.
Timeline and Controversy
The data breach initially occurred in February 2022 but went
undiscovered by the government until August 2023. Its discovery was
prompted when an individual in Afghanistan, who had obtained the data,
posted a portion of it on Facebook and threatened to release the rest.
The BBC reported on Wednesday that the Ministry of Defence (MoD)
subsequently expedited the individual’s resettlement application and
brought him to the UK – a sequence of events government sources
described as “essentially blackmail.” The MoD declined to comment on
this specific action, only stating that all individuals entering the UK
under Afghan relocation schemes undergo “robust security checks.”
Government Response and Costs
The 2023 discovery of the breach compelled the government to covertly
establish the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR), a resettlement scheme
for those affected. Crucially, the scheme’s beneficiaries were not
informed about the data breach despite the grave risks to their
security. To date, the ARR has facilitated the relocation of 4,500
Afghans and their family members to the UK, with an additional 2,400
expected, at an estimated cost of £850 million.
The breach itself stemmed from a critical error at UK Special Forces
headquarters in London. An individual inadvertently emailed over 30,000
resettlement applications to an external recipient, believing they were
sending data for only 150 people.
Political Fallout and Impact on Afghans
The complex legal battle for disclosure saw an initial
“super-injunction” lifted on Tuesday, followed by a secondary injunction
preventing the specific revelations about special forces and security
services. This latter injunction was also lifted on Thursday following a
compromise between barristers representing the MoD and media
organisations.
In Parliament on Tuesday, former Labour Defence Secretary John Healey
criticized the breach as a “serious departmental error” and
acknowledged it was “just one of many data losses” related to Afghan
relocation schemes. Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge apologized
on behalf of the former Conservative government, under whose tenure the
leak was discovered.
While the Taliban government claimed on Thursday it had not arrested
or monitored Afghans affected by the leak, relatives of those named told
the BBC they fear for their family members still in Afghanistan, with
one reporting intensified Taliban efforts to locate their named relative
following the leak.
An MoD spokesperson reiterated the longstanding policy of not
commenting on special forces matters. They added, “We take the security
of our personnel very seriously, particularly of those in sensitive
positions, and always have appropriate measures in place to protect
their security.”
