Mercer slams MoD as ‘criminally negligent’ over Afghan data breach

Former defence minister Johnny Mercer has blasted the ministry of defence (MoD) as “criminally negligent” after breaching the personal data of over 250 Afghan interpreters.

The Conservative MP made the comments via Twitter, after the BBC reported that more than 250 Afghans who had worked with British forces and are seeking relocation to the UK – many of whom remain in hiding in Afghanistan – were erroneously copied into an MoD email requesting an update on their situation.

It was also suggested that several of the email addresses had photos attached.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today program this morning, Mercer commented that, “The reality is that we have left the vast vast majority of our interpreters behind.  So this is going to have a profound impact on people who are still in the country”.

Suggesting that the number of Afghan interpreters who got out might be as low as 99 people, Mercer said, “It begs the question of who actually did get out”.  Mercer accepted that the chances of these interpreters now being able to safely leave Afghanistan was “pretty slim”.

The defence secretary Ben Wallace has announced an investigation into the data breach.