‘Security breach’ occurred during Biden’s Belfast trip, Northern Ireland police confirms

A "security breach" happened during US President Joe Biden's trip to Belfast, police in Northern Ireland have admitted. A document reportedly containing details of officer deployments in the city of Belfast was found on the street, BBC reported. A member of the general public called one of the BBC radio programmes and said that he had found a five-page document.

The man said that the document had been marked sensitive and contained details about Biden's travel, such as road closures and police contact information.

"We are aware of a security breach," the Police Service of Northern Island (PSNI) told BBC in a statement. The police added they think what the man found was an "operational order". The order supposedly contained information about officer deployments in Belfast.

An investigation into the matter has been ordered.

"An investigation has commenced and we have notified the senior information risk officer. We take the safety of visiting dignitaries, members of the public and our officers and staff extremely seriously and will put the appropriate actions in place," the PSNI also said.

Meanwhile, Fox News quoted US Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi as saying that they have been informed by the PSNI of "media reports regarding a potentially sensitive document, which may contain law-enforcement material".

Guglielmi said the reports of a security breach did not in any way hamper the president's travel plans. He further noted that Jocelyn Keaveny, the special agent in charge of the Paris field office and the senior Secret Service official on the visit expressed confidence in their Irish and European partners and was not concerned about the ongoing security of the visit.

Biden is on a trip toBelfast, Northern Ireland, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. The deal formally ended decades of "The Troubles," a violent conflict between Protestant Unionists loyal to the Crown, and Catholic Republicans supportive of a unified Ireland.

Biden is joined by his son Hunter and sister Valerie Biden Owens on the trip, besides the US envoy to Northern Ireland Joseph Patrick Kennedy III, a grandnephew of the late President John F Kennedy.

He met UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Belfast for coffee and later spoke at the Ulster University where he urged Northern Ireland's feuding political leaders to restore its power-sharing government established through the Good Friday Agreement.

(With inputs from agencies)

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