The head of the British Army has ordered an inquiry after details of UK Special Forces were leaked online. General Sir Roly Walker, the Chief of the General, ordered the investigation into the security breach which lists Special Forces soldiers recruited from the Grenadier Guards on an online regimental publication.
The Defence Secretary John Healey is said to be “furious” about the compromising details being put in the public domain, which have been listed for a decade despite repeated warnings. Walker said he had “directed an immediate review” into the “data sharing arrangements” in a bid to find out why the information was shared online. He told The Times: “The security of our people is of the utmost importance and we take any breach extremely seriously.”
The news comes just days after it emerged the names of Special Forces personnel were amongst those leaked in an Afghan data leak which was the subject of a super-injunction for nearly two years.
Members of the Special Forces rely on anonymity to perform their role, with their identity becoming public having the potential to cause long-term impacts.
However, for more than a decade, a Grenadier Guards in-house publication included a roll call of the names and current deployments of its most senior officers.
The latest edition included 10 names with the acronym ‘MAB’ – a common military abbreviation for Special Forces which would be easily understood by a malign actor.
Another regiment had also disclosed personnel from within its ranks who had been selected to serve with the Special Forces but deleted it after it was made aware.
It is understood the publication, produced by the Grenadier Guards Regimental Association, only deleted the information on Friday.
It is also understood to have included the names of information about Guards deployed to the Cabinet Office’s National Security Secretariat, a team responsible for briefing the Prime Minister on security matters, as well as a soldier serving within Walker’s small team.
General Walker, who commanded the Grenadier Guards in 2009, said: “As a result of this incident, I have directed an immediate review into our data sharing arrangements with our regimental and corps associations to ensure appropriate guidance and safeguards are in place to best support the vital work they do.”