Secret terror files left on train

[Jack]

It seems that the government can't keep anything safe, ranging from details about us or secret terrorist files.

Source: BBC

Police are investigating a "serious" security breach after a civil servant lost top-secret documents containing the latest intelligence on al-Qaeda.

The unnamed Cabinet Office employee apparently breached strict security rules when he left the papers on the seat of a train.

A fellow passenger spotted the envelope containing the files and gave it to the BBC, who handed them to the police.

The official was later suspended from his job, the Cabinet Office announced.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith now faces demands for an official inquiry.

Keith Vaz MP, chairman of the powerful Home Affairs select committee told the BBC: "Such confidential documents should be locked away...they should not be read on trains.

"I will be writing to the Home Secretary to establish an inquiry into the affair."

The Conservatives backed calls for an inquiry, with their security spokeswoman, Baroness Neville-Jones, describing the loss as the latest in a "long line of serious breaches of security."

Home Office minister Tony McNulty told the BBC he was awaiting the results of the police investigation.

'Damning assessment'

The two reports were assessments made by the government's Joint Intelligence Committee.

One, on Iraq's security forces, was commissioned by the Ministry of Defence. According to the BBC's security correspondent, Frank Gardner, it included a top-secret and in some places "damning" assessment of Iraq's security forces,

The other document, reportedly entitled 'Al-Qaeda Vulnerabilities', was commissioned jointly by the Foreign Office and the Home Office.

Just seven pages long but classified as "UK Top Secret", this latest intelligence assessment on al-Qaeda is so sensitive that every document is numbered and marked "for UK/US/Canadian and Australian eyes only", according to our correspondent.

According to reports, this document may have contained details of names of individuals or locations which might have been useful to Britain's enemies.

However, it appears that in a serious breach of the rules, the papers were taken out of Whitehall by an unnamed official and left in an orange cardboard envelope on the seat of a Surrey-bound train from London Waterloo on Tuesday.

When a fellow passenger saw the material inside the envelope, they gave it to the BBC.

Not suspended

Reports suggest that the official, described as a senior male civil servant, works in the Cabinet Office's intelligence and security unit, which contributes to the work of the Joint Intelligence Committee.

His work reportedly involves writing and contributing to intelligence and security assessments, and that he has the authority to take secret documents out of the Cabinet Office - so long as strict procedures are observed.

Once the documents were reported missing, a full-scale search had been launched by the Metropolitan Police, amid fears that such highly sensitive material could have fallen into the wrong hands.

Our correspondent said that across several departments in Whitehall on Wednesday evening there is said to be "horror" that top-secret documents could have been so casually mislaid.

Inquiry

Any inquiry is likely to focus on the Cabinet Office, and the security procedures that made it possible for sensitive information to be allowed out of a secure environment.

A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said: "Two documents which are marked as 'secret' were left on a train and have subsequently been handed to the BBC.

"There has been a security breach, the Metropolitan Police are carrying out an investigation."

The spokesman declined to discuss the contents of the documents.

One Whitehall source sought to play down the impact of the breach: "The embarrassment of the loss is greater than the embarrassment of the contents of the documents.

"We don't believe there is a threat to any individuals in what was in these documents if they had got into the wrong hands."

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We are making inquiries in connection with the loss of documents on June 10."

[Jack]

Source: BBC

The Conservatives have accused the government of presiding over "a culture of carelessness" after a second set of sensitive papers was left on a train.

The files - on terrorist funding, drugs trafficking and money laundering - were handed to the Independent on Sunday.

Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, shadow security spokesman, said those responsible for handling confidential information were "flouting" the rules.

The foreign secretary told the BBC the incident was "completely inexcusable".

Confirming there would be a thorough investigation, David Miliband said: "The government takes all reports of security breaches extremely seriously. These sorts of lapses are completely inexcusable.

"I know that this will be taken with the utmost seriousness and will be followed up to ensure that there isn't a further threat to the national interest."

Earlier a Treasury spokesman said the government was "extremely concerned" about the lapse in security and would be "taking steps to ensure that it doesn't happen in the future".

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.

'Flouting' the rules

Dame Pauline said it was "yet another example of a lapse in discipline" by the government.

"I think it is a culture of carelessness," she said.

"People taking rules in departments - and all departments do have rules on the whole question of the protection of government information - not taking them seriously and flouting them."

Dame Pauline called for greater controls to protect secret official information.

"We have to have much more long-term, independent governance and supervision and investigation of the custody of sensitive information.

"In other words, we have to have people who are appointed by government who are trusted, who actually supervise the handling of government information inside the machinery of government on a daily basis."

The new Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said there was "a systems failure going on".

Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said the incident was "deeply embarrassing".

"It's frankly an appalling blow to the government's efforts to tackle financial flows underpinning both organised crime and terrorism and it really shows us up as the chair of international efforts to deal with this problem."

The papers were found on train bound for London Waterloo on 11 June, the same day that a batch of papers classified "UK Top Secret" and relating to intelligence assessments of Iraq and al-Qaeda, were handed to the BBC after being left by a senior official on a train.

The Cabinet Office and the Metropolitan Police launched inquiries into the documents handed into the BBC - the latest in a series of blunders involving sensitive official information.

But Scotland Yard said it was not involved in investigating the latest case.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will be asked to appear before the Home Affairs Select Committee next week to explain whether the blunders could hamper the country's fight against terrorism.

Chairman of the committee Keith Vaz said: "Until the inquiry has been concluded and we are told how these extraordinary events occurred, no official, no matter how senior, should be allowed to take classified or confidential documents outside their offices for whatever reason."

Documents returned

The Independent on Sunday said it had returned the documents and would not be divulging any details contained in them.

The confidential files were said to include details of how trade and banking systems could be manipulated to finance illicit weapons of mass destruction in Iran.

They also discussed methods of terrorist funding and the potential fraud of commercial websites and international internet payment systems.

The FATF conference is due to begin on Monday at the QE2 Conference Centre in Westminster, opposite the Houses of Parliament.

The FATF was established by the 1989 G7 summit in Paris to spearhead efforts to counter the use of the international financial system by criminals.

It has since expanded to 34 members.

[Steve Gardner]

And, whatever one's feelings re: ID cards (mine is that the idea sucks), you've got to be wary of placing all your information in the hands of your government when they are prone, as this one seems to be, to losing it.

It's been one calamity after another for this bumbling Prime Minister and his incompetent sidekicks. I hope the Lords throw out the preposterous idea of detaining people for 42 days without charge in the hope it'll trigger a vote of no confidence.

[teddy]

It's no surprise there are all these "mistakes" occurring. Let's face it, with increasingly big government being involved in every aspect of our lives, there is so much that can go wrong - and what can go wrong, will go wrong. The future will see a higher and higher percentage of people employed by the state, in one way or another. These mistakes happen because they are trying to do too much. They should leave us alone and concentrate on what really matters.