Documents seized from the reporter’s boyfriend, David Miranda, were so sensitive that agents have since had to be moved to protect their lives.
Oliver Robbins, deputy national security adviser at the Cabinet Office, went on the record to warn that ‘lives may be put at risk’ if the documents fall in to the wrong hands.
Mr Farmer was registered blind after suffering
two strokes. His walking stick is slightly reflective, which is why
perhaps members of the public mistook it for a weapon
Court papers released yesterday also revealed the incredibly lax security used around the material, with Mr Miranda apparently carrying a password for some of the computer documents written on a scrap of paper.
Security sources also said that, as a result of the theft, codes for tens of thousands of sensitive documents have had to be changed.
Details of the chaos caused at the highest levels of Britain’s security and intelligence agencies by the leaks emerged in official court submissions about material seized from Mr Miranda, the boyfriend of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald.
Mr Miranda, 28, who is Brazilian, was detained at Heathrow on August 18 as he passed through the airport on his way from Berlin to Rio.
He was found to be carrying nine hard disks and memory sticks including secret files leaked by former CIA analyst Edward Snowden, and was questioned for nine hours before being released.
Mr Miranda’s detention under terrorism powers provoked outrage from civil liberties groups.
But the newspaper’s initial story described him only as Mr Greenwald’s boyfriend, and made no mention of the fact that he was carrying secret material or that the Guardian was paying for his flights.
Despite only decrypting one third of the material, police have already discovered 58,000 classified documents, many marked secret or top secret.
Mr Farmer was walking down the street on his way
to meet friends when he was attacked. He was handcuffed by police
before they realised their mistake He received treatment at hospital
shortly after the incident
In a statement to the High Court, Mr Robbins said the material was likely to contain details of secret techniques used to prevent terror attacks, personal data about agents at home and abroad and ‘other intelligence activities vital to UK national security’.
The release of the information could pose a ‘direct threat to the life of UK government employees’, as well as threaten the lives of their families.
Mr Robbins warned the judges – who granted additional powers to the police to examine the classified material – that the information that had been decrypted ‘has had a direct impact on decisions taken in regard to staff deployments and is therefore impacting operational effectiveness’.
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