What I told MPs about the government’s catastrophic Afghan data leak
NEarly in the two years, I was called to the Department of Defense and served in an unprecedented reserve; it was a legal injunction preventing me or anyone else from disclosing the details of a catastrophic data leak at the heart of government.
That moment threw me into a secret legal battle in the Supreme Court that lasted 18 months, as media outlets sought to hold the government to account about how the leak occurred and what was being done to correct this grave mistake.
In July this year, after the gag order was lifted by a High Court judge, we were finally able to tell the full story of how the Ministry of Defense mistakenly breached the personal information of 18,700 applicants to a UK resettlement scheme, potentially endangering thousands more, and how a secret relocation plan was given the green light without the knowledge of the public or parliament.
An investigation into what happened has been launched by the defense select committee, a group of cross-party MPs, and today I have been called in to be part of it, as one of the journalists involved in the two-year legal saga.
As a journalist I’m more accustomed to asking questions and investigating events, but things changed today when I was summoned along with my Fleet Street colleague Sam Greenhill to answer questions about relocation plans, government secrecy and the aftermath. Daily Mail and Larisa Brown The Times.
As committee chairman Tan Dhesi MP explained, the investigation was launched “to examine in detail what happened, what decisions were made by whom, to shed light on what actually happened.”
He opened the session by saying: “Many of us, especially MPs, were shocked when we learned that the injunction had been in force for nearly two years, because MPs had been kept in the dark even though we were frequently advised that parliament was sovereign.”
Over several hearings, lawmakers will examine why the government thought the injunction was necessary and why it was pursued for so long, as well as consider Afghan resettlement plans and the impact on Afghans affected and unaffected by the violation.
The committee chair, Labor MP for Slough, Tan Dhesi, praised journalists for our efforts to shed light on the issue and praised “our courage and determination to expose this entire episode where everyone, including most parliamentarians, has been left in the dark”.
While those attending future sessions have not yet been confirmed, MPs hope to grill ministers and senior civil servants about what went wrong. As well as getting input from lawyers and caseworkers who support at-risk Afghans.
Their investigation will be conducted alongside another investigation by the Intelligence and Security Committee, a group of MPs with security clearances who can examine top-secret matters. The findings will then be incorporated into final reports and reflect what may be learned in the future.
While Parliament can now investigate what went wrong in the past, questions remain about what is currently being done to help those still left behind. As I told the committee, journalists are hearing that a number of Afghans have been evacuated to the UK in the last few months despite promises that eligibility grants already granted would be honored.
MPs who tried to get a response from the ministry about the figures were turned away, with officials citing operational security; This has not hindered transparency in the past.
Concerns about a growing culture of secrecy in the Ministry of Defense were raised by Conservative MP Jesse Norman, who told the hearing: “We have identified in this committee a change in the quality of the information we receive from the Ministry of Defence.”
Ms Brown, defense editor Times, He explained that a Defense Department source told him that “the numbers have remained virtually unchanged since the injunction was lifted.”
As of October this year, there were an estimated 4,200 applicants and family members eligible to come to the UK under the Ministry of Defense’s relocation scheme who were still waiting to be relocated.
This issue goes to the heart of the injunction and demonstrates that there is still a serious lack of transparency regarding the safety of Afghans applying for resettlement plans.
This is an issue we have doggedly addressed for two years; We hope the investigation provides the momentum needed to bring those still waiting to safety.
