Sir Grant Shapps, the former Defence Secretary, has defended the decision to maintain secrecy surrounding a data breach that exposed the personal information of thousands of Afghans and some British officials.
In his first interview since the leak was made public, he told the BBC that prioritizing caution was “entirely justified,” adding that his primary concern was “sorting out the mess and saving lives.”
It was assessed that many individuals were at risk of serious harm or even death, as the Taliban sought to retaliate against those who had collaborated with the British government during the Afghanistan war.
Sir Grant stated that the injunction preventing reporting on the breach was “quite rightly” sought by his predecessor and that he believed it should remain in effect at the time.
A “super-injunction” – a gagging order that prohibits reporting even the existence of the injunction – was lifted earlier this week.
Sir Grant assumed the role of defence secretary in August 2023, shortly after the breach was discovered and just before court orders were issued to prevent its disclosure.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, he stated, “Faced with the choice of whether that list would get out and people would be pursued, murdered, and executed as a result of it, or doing something to try and save those lives, I’d much rather now be in this interview explaining why a super-injunction was required than being in this interview explaining why I failed to act and people were murdered.”
He added that he was surprised the order lasted so long and that he had thought, as the risks started to lessen, it would have ended last year.
Sir Grant was also questioned about why the Intelligence and Security Committee – which oversees the security services – was not informed. “Even a hint of this getting around…meant the risks were incredibly high,” he responded.
“The ‘who was briefed’ was decided by conversations with the judges,” he said, adding: “You can argue that circle should be wider.”
Data pertaining to nearly 19,000 Afghans who had worked with the British during the 20-year conflict and had applied to resettle in the UK was inadvertently leaked in February 2022.
The details of over 100 Britons were also released, including intelligence officers and members of the special forces.
Following the lifting of the super-injunction on Tuesday, a secondary injunction remained in place, preventing journalists from reporting that the details of UK special forces and security services personnel were also included in the leak.
However, that injunction was also lifted on Thursday after barristers representing both the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and a group of media organizations reached a compromise regarding the additional facts.
The Liberal Democrats have suggested that current Defence Secretary John Healey may have misled Parliament after he told MPs on Tuesday that, to the best of his knowledge, no serving member of the armed forces had been put at risk by the leak.
Downing Street stated that Healey’s remarks to the Commons were accurate, with the prime minister’s official spokesperson adding: “We take the security of our personnel extremely seriously.”
An MoD spokesperson said: “It’s longstanding policy of successive governments to not comment on special forces.”
“We take the security of our personnel very seriously, and personnel, particularly those in sensitive positions, always have appropriate measures in place to protect their security.”
It is understood that the UK armed forces personnel affected by the leak were provided with additional security advice.
Those serving in the special forces and secret services already have heightened protection measures.
An employee at the UK Special Forces headquarters in London inadvertently emailed over 30,000 resettlement applications to an individual outside of government, believing they were only sending data on 150 people.
The government discovered the breach in August 2023 when someone in Afghanistan who had obtained the data posted part of it on Facebook and indicated that they could release the remainder.
This forced the government to secretly establish the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) – a resettlement scheme for individuals on the list and their families, who were not informed about the breach despite the risk to their security.
The scheme has already facilitated the relocation of 4,500 Afghans to the UK, with a further 2,400 people expected, at an estimated cost of £850 million.
The MoD has declined to comment on the potential number of individuals in Afghanistan who may have been harmed due to the data breach.
The Taliban government stated on Thursday that it had neither arrested nor monitored Afghans affected by the leak.
However, relatives of Afghans named in the leak told the BBC that they feared for their families still in the country, with one stating that efforts by the Taliban to locate their named relative intensified following the leak.
Relatives worry the Taliban may intensify its search for those who worked with the UK in Afghanistan.
Muhammad Khan has been living in the south of England since 2021, with his family now joining him.
The revelation of a major data leak and subsequent relocation of thousands of Afghans to the UK has raised serious questions.
Details of thousands of Afghans who supported UK forces were mistakenly leaked under the last government.
The BBC’s Tom Symonds examines the controversy surrounding the breach, which was kept hidden for years.