&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "British Intelligence compromised? Afghan data leak names MI6 spies, SAS troops")
The information of over 100 Britons, including special forces and spies, was included in a massive data leak that saw Afghans secretly resettled in the UK. Defence officials have said that information of MI6 spies, SAS and special forces members were included in the spreadsheet, following their endorsement of Afghans who had requested to be resettled in the UK following the Taliban takeover.
The data, comprising the personal details of almost 19,000 individuals who had applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), was published "in error" in February 2022 by a defence official. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) only discovered the breach over a year later, when extracts of the spreadsheet were posted anonymously in a Facebook group in August 2023. Other leaked information included the Arap applicants' names and contact information and names of their relatives.
In a statement on Tuesday (July 15), following an unprecedented superinjunction being lifted by a high court judge, the defence secretary John Healey issued a "sincere apology" on behalf of the government for the breach of data. He subsequently informed the Commons that the spreadsheet had "names and contact information of applicants and, in some cases, details related to applicants' family members, and in a few cases the names of members of parliament, senior military personnel and government ministers were recorded as endorsing the application". "This was a grave departmental mistake," he was quoted saying in an interview.
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge apologised on behalf of the previous Conservative government, which was ruling at the time of the leak and when it emerged over a year later. Cartlidge subsequently questioned Healey about speculation that a different individual from the original person who leaked the information had been involved in blackmail.
