Major UK leak exposes identities of spies, not just Afghans who helped Britain

A secret court order was partly lifted today, revealing that a major data leak exposed the identities of British special forces and intelligence officers in addition to the thousands of Afghans who had worked with the UK, which was reported earlier.

The leak happened in February 2022, when someone at UK Special Forces headquarters accidentally sent a sensitive database outside the government. The database included the personal details of more than 100 British officials — including members of the SAS, SBS, and individuals in the intelligence services — whose identities are meant to be strictly protected.

Earlier this week, it had already been reported that the same database contained information on nearly 19,000 Afghans who worked with British forces during the war and had applied to move to the UK after the Taliban returned to power. Many of them are considered to be in danger as the Taliban might target them.

The government used a rare super-injunction to keep the story out of the public eye, even banning reports on the injunction itself. That order was partially lifted today by a High Court judge, allowing the details to be made public. The scale of the breach is now being described as one of the worst in recent UK security history.