British spies and special forces soldiers had data leaked in Afghan breach
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More than 100 British government personnel exposed by Afghan data leak
- A catastrophic data leak by a Ministry of Defence official in February 2022 exposed details of tens of thousands of Afghans seeking refuge in the UK due to their links with British forces.
- The breach also compromised the identities of over 100 British government personnel, including MI6 spies, SAS members, members of parliament, and senior military figures.
- The leak led to 16,000 affected Afghans being evacuated to Britain, with 8,000 more expected, and was subject to an unprecedented two-year superinjunction preventing publication of details.
- Defence secretary John Healey confirmed the exposure of British officials' names, while the Intelligence and Security Committee demanded immediate briefings and intelligence assessments regarding the superinjunction.
- Former armed forces minister James Heappey criticised the Ministry of Defence's "flawed" decision-making on sanctuary applications for Afghan special forces, known as the Triples, whose payments by the UK government were initially denied but later confirmed.