Britain’s security is ‘lax’, says FBI after civil servant who left secret papers at bus stop allowed to keep his job
THE Government has been accused of “lax” handling of a security breach after a senior official left top secret documents at a bus stop.
Senior sources within the US department of defence said “an FBI investigation would ensue” if a similar situation had played out in America.
They said: “At the very least the person in question would either be asked to resign, forced to take early retirement or be permanently stripped of his security clearance and redeployed to a role where no security clearance was required.”
A senior civil servant was revealed to have lost a 50-page dossier after removing it from a secure building.
It is understood that Angus Lapsley, who was director for defence, international security and south-east Europe at the Foreign Office from 2017 until 2019, was the person who lost the documents.
However, it is understood that while Mr Lapsley, who was in line to be made ambassador to Nato, had his security clearance suspended and was removed from the Ministry of Defence after the breach took place, he remains in post at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
A government source said that while Mr Lapsley’s security clearance was suspended, “it doesn’t mean it won’t be reinstated at a later date”.
The US official cautioned that the “lack of discipline” displayed towards Mr Lapsley raises “serious questions about UK-US intelligence”.
“The way it has been handled does not instill confidence,” they said. “Why was he even taking such documents out of the building? Obviously the British are more lax than we are.”
In June it was revealed that a senior official had left a 50-page secret dossier at a bus stop in Kent.
The documents – some of which were marked Secret UK Eyes Only – discussed the likely Russian reaction to HMS Defender’s passage through Ukrainian waters as part of the Carrier Strike Group’s maiden operational voyage.
In 1986 Lord West left documents detailing large cuts to the Navy on a canal towpath, which resulted in the former first sea lord being court martialed.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, also questioned why Mr Lapsley had taken such sensitive documents home.
“The message should go out very strongly that the days of taking papers home are long gone,” he said, adding that there was “no excuse” to do so when encrypted communications on secure computers are readily available.
Sir Iain added: “It should be a significant offence to take papers home.
“It was a terrible security mess and he shouldn’t be carrying stuff like that home when it’s classified.
“I hope the Government is making a real point that anyone who takes papers home will find themselves being disciplined.”
A Government spokesperson said: “The UK Government takes the protection of its information extremely seriously.
“The investigation has independently confirmed the circumstances of the loss and the manner in which it occurred.
“The investigation has confidence that all Secret papers were recovered, there was no evidence of espionage and there has been no compromise of the documents by adversaries.
“The individual concerned has been removed from sensitive work and has already had their security clearance suspended pending a full review.”
The incident became public because the paperwork was handed to the BBC at the end of June, prompting the broadcaster to put together a report detailing some of the contents of the secret communications.