NOT THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER: The Spy Who Came In From The Beach
Just 90 days after the security flap caused by former Scotland Yard counter-terrorism official Bob Quick, Sir John Sawers (who will be known as “C” to his fellow birdwatchers at British foreign intelligence agency MI6 when he succeeds Sir John Scarlett) learned - from the the tabloid The Mail on Sunday - that his wife, Lady Shelley, had blown his cover by posting the location of their London flat and snaps from the family vacay on her Facebook page without activating any of the available privacy filters (a lapse that has since been corrected). The New York Times reports:
[T]he disclosure, such as it was, raised a little flurry of excitement in diplomatic and journalistic circles. On one hand, The Mail on Sunday fulminated that the existence of the now-defunct items represented a shocking breach of security that exposed the failings of the state apparatus, possibly compromised the safety of Sir John and Lady Sawers and was “potentially useful to terrorists.” …
Because the items are not available anymore, it is unclear whether the Facebook page indeed contained compromising or secret information. According to The Mail on Sunday, it revealed “the location of the London flat used by the couple and personal details about their three children and about Sir John’s parents.” By the newspaper’s own account, most of the details were contained in photographs — 19 pictures of the couple on vacation with their friends in the West Country and 22 pictures of Sir John’s mother’s 80th birthday party, among others. …
While the Labour government played down the news of the Facebook page, that the page existed at all seemed to divide members of the opposition Conservative Party.
Referring to the MI6 chief, Patrick Mercer, a Conservative member of Parliament who is chairman of the counterterrorism subcommittee of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: “A great deal of taxpayers’ money has been spent over the past several decades making sure he and his family are protected from security compromises. Well, it doesn’t seem to be very relevant any more, does it?”
For his part, Foreign Secretary David Miliband is keeping a stiff upper lip, telling a TV reporter: “It is not a state secret that he wears Speedo swimming trunks."
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