2021 British Ministry of Defence leaks
 The soggy folder containing the soaked documents. | |
| Date | 22 June 2021 |
|---|---|
| Location | Kent, England |
| Perpetrators | Angus Lapsley |
| Exposed | UK/Ministry of Defence |
| Description | A pile of 50 sensitive MOD documents are leaked. |
In 2021, a number of leaks occurred at the UK/Ministry of Defence.
June leaks
On the morning of 22nd of June 2021, a member of the public found 50 pages of classified information in a soggy heap behind a bus stop in Kent, England. The person, who remains anonymous, contacted the BBC afterwards.[1]
The documents contain heavily sensitive information from the UK/Ministry of Defence about the HMS Defender Crimea controversy, which started one day later.[2]
In July, the Ministry of Defence ruled out foul play.[3] They said it was down to human error.[4]
It was later revealed that senior diplomat Angus Lapsley lost the documents. He was working as director general of strategy and international, responsible for defence policy on Nato and the Euro-Atlantic area but following the loss of the sensitive papers he was removed from “sensitive work” and had his security clearance suspended pending a full review. Around the same time, he was being considered as a candidate for the UK’s new ambassador to NATO.[5]
September leaks
During the Afghanistan/2021 withdrawal and the Evacuation from Afghanistan, one employee at the MOD was suspended after emails addresses belonging to 250 Afghan interpreters were leaked.[6]
References
- ↑ https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/uk-news/2021/06/27/sensitive-ministry-of-defence-documents-found-by-member-of-public-at-bus-stop/
- ↑ https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1455078/royal-navy-news-defence-documents-leaked-russia-HMS-Defender-bus-stop-breaking-news
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/19/mod-rules-out-foul-play-after-discovery-of-secret-papers-at-kent-bus-stop
- ↑ https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2021-07-20/defence-papers-leak-at-kent-bus-stop-due-to-individual-error
- ↑ https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/mod-kent-crimea-nato-ben-mitchell-b949147.html
- ↑ https://inews.co.uk/news/ministry-of-defence-suspends-employee-accidental-leak-afghan-interpreters-details-1213536
