The Chief Civil Servant in the Ministry of Defense will be replaced in view of Afghan data violations, the department has announced.
This step follows one The worst UK data violation Last month in front of the public for decades, in a great embarrassment for defense and intelligence services.
The leakage, which became infinite for months and then was subject to a super-injection, put the identity of British detectives, soldiers and weak Afghan colleagues.
Permanent Secretary David Williams will leave this autumn and recruit for his successor, MOD confirmed.
The violation took place in February 2022, when an official working at the headquarters of special forces of the UK inadvertently emailed a spreadsheet with a personal details of about 19,000 people who took refuge from the Taliban in Britain.
Information that identified more than 100 UK officials was also compromised, some of which were Mi6 employees or special force soldiers who gave information related to applications made by individual Afghans.
Mr. Williams was the most senior civil servant in the department at the time of leakage.
The BBC understands that the Defense Secretary John Heela had “interaction” with Mr. Williams before public knowledge in mid -July and “made it clear that this was the right time to make changes”.
A source told the BBC that it was normal for permanent secretaries to serve for about five years to run government departments. Mr. Williams is in the post since 2021.
The source told the BBC that this was “a suitable time for an infection” because the recent defense reviews have made a major restructuring including appointments of new data for other senior roles.
In June, the government appointed a new major defense employees with new powers. It has also created new posts of Director of National Armaments and established a new military strategic headquarters.
The government is externally advertising the post of permanent secretary in the mod.
The source told the BBC that to implement the objective, to attract “successful, ambitious people” from the external government, ideally included “senior commercial experiences, or corporate leaders who have experience of driving change in large organizations, and prominent purchase, handling big budgets, and providing efficiency”.
In a statement, a mod spokesperson said “Since 2021, David has led the department through a period of significant activity, and we thank him to their contribution.”
Labor MP and Chairman of the Defense Select Committee, Tanmanjit Singh Desi said that “many years of public service honors” by Mr. Williams, despite the seriousness of the leak.
He said, “While our committee has agreed to make inquiries in this shocking situation, we have yet to set full scope for that, in which who will be called to give evidence.”
“The fact is that this violation has risked our courageous British service personnel and Afghans, who bravely supported them, make the situation even more shocking.
“I am sure the committee would like to investigate and understand how it can be allowed to happen.”
