Incompetent bureaucrat who left top secret files about HMS Defender at a bus stop has security clearance axed

The incompetent official, who has not been named, has been removed from ‘all sensitive work’ within the Ministry of Defence, Baroness Annabel Goldie has said.

As previously reported, the classified documents – 50 pages in all – were left in a ‘soggy pile’ at a bus stop in Kent last month.

The secret files included details about how strategy chiefs thought Russia would react to HMS Defender’s passage through Ukrainian waters off the Crimea coast.

The documents, which were recovered by a member of the public, also detailed plans for a possible UK military presence in Afghanistan after the US-led Nato operation there ended.

The intelligence slip-up prompted a major investigation within the MoD, which Baroness Goldie said had now ‘concluded'.

In a written response to parliament, the Tory peer said: ‘The investigation has independently confirmed the circumstances of the loss, including the management of the papers within the department, the location at which the papers were lost and the manner in which that occurred.

‘These are consistent with the events self-reported by the individual. We are confident that we have recovered all the secret papers.

‘The investigation has found no evidence of espionage; and has concluded there has been no compromise of the papers by our adversaries.

‘The individual concerned has been removed from sensitive work and has already had their security clearance suspended pending a full review.’

She added the MoD would be making ‘no further comment’ on the incident and insisted the department takes the protection of its information ‘extremely seriously’.

SEE ALSO: Russia warns navy sailors will ‘get hurt’ if UK warships sail near Crimea

The files left at the bus stop included emails and PowerPoint presentations, originated in the office of a senior official at the MoD.

The documents relating to the Portsmouth-based Type 45 destroyer, HMS Defender, show that a mission described by the MoD as an ‘innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters’, with guns covered and the ship's helicopter stowed in its hangar, was conducted in the expectation that Russia might respond aggressively.

As previously reported, the £1bn warship was swarmed by more than 20 Russian aircraft and two coastguard ships as it sailed about 12 miles off Crimea’s coast.

Moscow's defence ministry said a patrol ship fired warning shots and a jet dropped bombs in the destroyer's path but the UK government rejected this account, denying any warning shots had been fired.

Looking for the latest Royal Navy updates from Portsmouth? Join our new Royal Navy news Facebook group to keep up to date.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to our online coverage, including Pompey, with 70 per cent fewer adverts for less than 20p a day.