CyberLaw Blog

Archive for the ‘Official Secrecy’ Category

The Quick – and the Dead in the Water: “

Met Assistant Commissioner resigns following security breach

Comment Quick by name, and for once, quick by nature. The speedy resignation of assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, following his inadvertent public exposure of secret documents detailing a highly sensitive counter-terror operation, has probably saved the Police and Home Office an Easter of recriminations and back-biting.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Brit nuke subs exposed on Google Earth: “

GCHQ. MI6 and SAS also laid bare

The UK’s military top brass are said to be ‘furious’ that updated imagery on Google Earth has laid bare pretty well all of Blighty’s defence infrastructure, including Faslane nuclear sub base, the ‘nuclear crisis HQ’ in Northwood, North London, the SAS barracks in Herefordshire, GCHQ in Cheltenham and MI6’s spook central in London.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Obama chopper plans leaked on file-sharing nets: “

Secret ‘Marine One’ copter blueprints seen at Tehran IP

Confidential blueprints and specifications for the planned new US presidential helicopters have been accidentally leaked to the torrents by download-hungry defence contractors, according to reports.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Straw slaps ban on Iraq debate docs: “

Why appeal when you can veto?

When the government decided not to appeal the Information Tribunal’s order to release Cabinet minutes related to the invasion of Iraq it seemed like a victory for open, transparent government. It wasn’t.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

Wikileaks Posts Secret Bomb-Stopper Report — Did They Go Too Far?: “The secret-spilling site posts a classified report, showing how bomb-stopping jammers work. Has Wikileaks put troops in danger as a result?

(Via Wired News.)

Official fined for leaving al-Qaida papers on train

A senior Whitehall official who left highly classified intelligence documents about al-Qaida and the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces on a train was fined £2,500 yesterday by Westminster magistrates court after admitting negligence.

Richard Jackson, 37, of Yateley, Hampshire, who had been seconded from the Ministry of Defence to the Cabinet Office, was charged under a section of the Official Secrets Act covering the safeguarding of information. It is the first prosecution of its kind and it had been assumed in Whitehall he would be disciplined by internal procedures rather than charged under the criminal law. The court heard he had already taken a ‘drastic’ pay cut and effectively been demoted by three grades.

The two joint intelligence committee documents were left on a London Waterloo to Surrey train on June 10.

They were found inside an orange cardboard envelope on a train by a member of the public who passed them to the BBC’s security correspondent, Frank Gardner. He subsequently reported the loss. A damage assessment carried out by the Cabinet Office found the loss had the ‘potential to damage national security and the UK’s international relationships but to date this appears negligible’, the court heard.

District judge Timothy Workman said: ‘Had there been real risks to national security a custodial sentence, possibly suspended, would have been inevitable.’ He said he had taken into account Jackson’s good character, remorse, full cooperation and guilty plea. ‘I am conscious that he has already paid a heavy penalty, a significant reduction in income and damage to his own and his family’s health,’ the judge said.

Jackson, who had a previous warning for not locking secret files in his safe, had accidentally picked up the files with some other papers as he left the office on June 9 and did not realise he had them until he was almost home, the court heard.

As he returned them to the office the next morning he put the folder on the train seat beside him, then got off at Waterloo without them. By the time he realised he had forgotten them the train was already on its way to Woking. He then spent the day frantically visiting lost property offices in the hope of recovering the files.

Neil Saunders, defending, said his client accepted his mistake but ‘there was never any risk to any lives whatsoever’. He said: ‘He was under extreme pressure at this time and it may well be partly because of his own role, the team he was leading and the work he was being asked to conduct that he has made this gross error of judgment.’

Deborah Walsh, prosecuting, said Jackson, who has been sent back to the MoD, did not report the loss of the files until the next day as his superiors were abroad. She added: ‘There’s ample evidence that Mr Jackson failed to take such care to prevent the unauthorised disclosure of the documents as somebody in his position may reasonably be expected to take.’

One of the documents was a seven-page assessment on al-Qaida. The other was described by Gardner at the time as a ‘top-secret and in some cases damning’ assessment of Iraq’s security forces.

Jackson had permission to take the documents out of the office as long as sufficient security was provided, meaning a locked box, Whitehall officials said.

(Via Latest news, sport, business, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk.)

Official who lost secret al-Qaeda report pleads guilty: “

‘My bad’, says forgetful vomiter

The senior civil servant who left government documents detailing intelligence on al-Qaeda on a commuter train in June has pleaded guilty to a breach of the Official Secrets Act.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

MoD man ‘faces Official Secrets trial’ for leaving files on train: “

Charge docs somewhere between CPS and Met police

The Cabinet Office official who left secret intelligence documents on a train seems set to face criminal charges under the Official Secrets Act.…

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(Via The Register – Public Sector.)

The Independent Exclusive: New batch of terror files left on train

IoS returns confidential documents to Treasury as officials promise to tighten procedures

By Simon Evans and Margareta Pagano
Sunday, 15 June 2008″

Secret government documents detailing the UK’s policies towards fighting global terrorist funding, drugs trafficking and money laundering have been found on a London-bound train and handed to ‘The Independent on Sunday’.
(more…)

More secret files found on train: “A further batch of confidential government documents has been found on a train, the Independent on Sunday says.”

The Independent on Sunday says it was handed the documents, which cover fighting global terrorist funding, drugs trafficking and money laundering.

The files were found on the same day as the BBC was handed top secret papers on al-Qaeda. A Treasury spokesman said the government was “extremely concerned”.

The Tories are calling for controls to protect secret official information.

The documents, about a meeting of financial crime experts, apparently include briefing notes for a meeting of the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to be held in 11 Downing Street next week.