Secret UK defence documents found in soggy heap at bus stop, says BBC

LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - Classified documents from Britain's defence ministry containing details about a British warship and Russia's potential reaction to its passage through the Black Sea have been found at a bus stop in southern England, the BBC reported on Sunday.

The BBC said the documents, almost 50 pages in all, were found "in a soggy heap behind a bus stop in Kent early on Tuesday morning" by a member of the public, who wanted to remain anonymous.

The Ministry of Defence said it had been informed last week of "an incident in which sensitive defence papers were recovered by a member of the public".

www.reuters.com... ssified-uk-defence-documents-found-bus-stop-england-says-bbc-2021-06-27/

Given that the bulk of the classified documents related to the British warship's passage through the Black Sea in a show of support to the Ukrainian over Russian annexed crimea the Russians took the opportunity to troll the situation.

Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mocked the British government on social media channel Telegram, saying: "London has used a number of lies to cover up the latest provocation. 007 (James Bond) is no longer the same."

"And now a riddle-like question for the British parliament, why do we need 'Russian hackers' if there are British bus stops?"

I also heard on the news that some of the classified material had to do with furniture national security issues and not just past events.


So what happened; did a British clearance holder simply have a bad day? Or was this information intentionally leaked or stolen?

Oh-so P-e-r-f-e-c-t 😆

a reply to: dandandat2

This is lazy and incredibly careless.

Everyone knows that secret government documents should go in the litter bins at the park.

Hi. Is Boris Badenov. I see add in paper bout janitor job cleaning up bus stops. Want to apply. Don't care bout pay. Kleen up bus stops reel good.

So,
Maybe a double agent? UK tends to have a plethora of those in the past..like the rest of the world.

Now back to my crispy chilli chicken wings. MTAA.

originally posted by: dandandat2
So what happened; did a British clearance holder simply have a bad day? Or was this information intentionally leaked or stolen?

One could certainly suspect a dead drop gone wrong; the retrieving party found the papers soaked and useless so just left them there.

But more likely it was a careless bad day at the office. Anyway at minimum they're not handling documents again, and are probably looking at being reassigned to an Antarctica weather station.

a reply to: dandandat2

I also heard on the news that some of the classified material had to do with furniture national security issues and not just past events.

The UK finds mess hall tables a matter of national security ?
Strange .

originally posted by: dandandat2

So what happened; did a British clearance holder simply have a bad day? Or was this information intentionally leaked or stolen?

More likely to be a bad day, it's suprisingly common for such sensitive info, though this is a paticularly embarrasing one. There's been classified documents left on trains before and DVDs full of senstitive/classified data posted to the wrong person or 'lost in the mail'.

No ideao how it happens though as when I had a security clearance we weren't allowed to take sensitive work home andthe printing proccess was highly secured with certain watermarks we knew nothing about to catch anyone selling or leaking the info to the press.

It's very odd someone earning the wage that comes with ability to print off and take home such sensitive info would be using busses though. That part is interesting and all busses have CCTV showing passengers getting on/the roadside so it's very easy to find the person responsible.

a reply to: dandandat2

Clear plant.

These documents went missing a week ago, nothing stays at a British bus stop for a week. Somebody would have stolen it before then.

If you left a popper scooper bag at a British bus stop someone would steal that.

originally posted by: AaarghZombies
a reply

If you left a popper scooper bag at a British bus stop someone would steal that.

You might.

There's piles of them, untouched, near where I live.

The bushes at the end of the lane look like some bizarre modern art Christmas tree with all the danglers.

a reply to: dandandat2

They really have to start printing secrets on rice paper - with invisible inks - and that "this message will self destruct in 10 seconds" tech.

The 'Mission Impossible' theme playing at the same time, however, is a dead give-away.

Texts about Matt Hancock, fake-CCTV of Matt Hancock, MOD Crimea intel… Boris preferred MO appears to be faking leaks to construct his narrative.

These documents were planted. There are some interesting security breakdowns in the UK civil service at the moment.

1. The Health Secretary just resigned after he was caught snogging his assistant. The filming was apparently done from a smoke alarm in his office! That’s a significant security breach!
2. Documents “found” in bus stop which covered the recent tensions between UK and Russia.

a reply to: dandandat2

These documents were left on a public highway as a PR stunt of which the Russians were aware.

No cause for alarm.