PAPERS ON AL-QAEDA LEFT ON TRAIN !
There was a 'clear breach of the rules' when the documents were lost.
A police inquiry has been launched after top-secret documents containing the latest government intelligence on al-Qaeda were left on a train.
The documents belonged to a very senior intelligence official working in the Cabinet Office.
A passenger on the train from Waterloo in London to Surrey spotted an envelope the papers were in abandoned on a seat and handed the documents to the BBC.
A full-scale search for them had been launched by the Metropolitan Police.
Just seven pages long but classified as "UK Top Secret", the latest government intelligence assessment on al-Qaeda is so sensitive that every document is numbered and marked "for UK/US/Canadian and Australian eyes only", BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said.
However, it appears that in a serious breach of the rules, according to our correspondent, the document was taken out of Whitehall and left on a train on Tuesday.
When a fellow passenger saw the material inside, which included a top-secret and in some places "damning" assessment of Iraq's security forces, they handed it in to the BBC.
Meanwhile a full-scale search for the documents had been launched by the Metropolitan Police, amid fears that such highly sensitive material could have fallen into the wrong hands, our correspondent said.
The two reports were assessments made by the government's Joint Intelligence Committee.
The report on Iraq was commissioned by the Ministry of Defence and the one on al-Qaeda was commissioned jointly by the Foreign Office and the Home Office.
Our correspondent said that across several departments in Whitehall this evening there is said to be "horror" that top-secret documents could have been so casually mislaid.
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said: "Two documents which are marked as 'secret' were left on a train and have subsequently been handed to the BBC.
"There has been a security breach, the Metropolitan Police are carrying out an investigation."
The spokesman declined to discuss the contents of the documents.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We are making inquiries in connection with the loss of documents on June 10."
BBC NEWS REPORT.A police inquiry has been launched after top-secret documents containing the latest government intelligence on al-Qaeda were left on a train.
The documents belonged to a very senior intelligence official working in the Cabinet Office.
A passenger on the train from Waterloo in London to Surrey spotted an envelope the papers were in abandoned on a seat and handed the documents to the BBC.
A full-scale search for them had been launched by the Metropolitan Police.
Just seven pages long but classified as "UK Top Secret", the latest government intelligence assessment on al-Qaeda is so sensitive that every document is numbered and marked "for UK/US/Canadian and Australian eyes only", BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said.
However, it appears that in a serious breach of the rules, according to our correspondent, the document was taken out of Whitehall and left on a train on Tuesday.
When a fellow passenger saw the material inside, which included a top-secret and in some places "damning" assessment of Iraq's security forces, they handed it in to the BBC.
Meanwhile a full-scale search for the documents had been launched by the Metropolitan Police, amid fears that such highly sensitive material could have fallen into the wrong hands, our correspondent said.
The two reports were assessments made by the government's Joint Intelligence Committee.
The report on Iraq was commissioned by the Ministry of Defence and the one on al-Qaeda was commissioned jointly by the Foreign Office and the Home Office.
Our correspondent said that across several departments in Whitehall this evening there is said to be "horror" that top-secret documents could have been so casually mislaid.
A spokesman for the Cabinet Office said: "Two documents which are marked as 'secret' were left on a train and have subsequently been handed to the BBC.
"There has been a security breach, the Metropolitan Police are carrying out an investigation."
The spokesman declined to discuss the contents of the documents.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We are making inquiries in connection with the loss of documents on June 10."
Labels: Train Documents Whitehall Loss al-Qaeda Intelligence UK Top-Secret Home-Office
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