Posted on 01/17/2006 10:50:24 AM PST by presidio9
A sensitive document detailing a British Royal Navy warship's tour of duty in the Middle East over the next two years has been found in a pub, the Daily Mirror reported.
A student spotted the two-page document -- titled "HMS St Albans Longcast", and marked "restricted" -- lying on a table as he played pool with friends in The Albany pub in Portsmouth, on England's south coast, the newspaper said.
It included times and dates of patrol operations in Iraq, Beirut, Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai, the Gulf and Suez, which were codenamed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
The Mirror claimed the security lapse could have exposed British sailors to a terrorist attack like that against the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000 when 17 sailors were killed.
HMS St Albans, a Type-23 frigate which is currently docked in Portsmouth, may now be forced to change its itinerary, it added.
"If this had been found by a terrorist sympathiser God knows what could have happened. It's very serious. It's incredibly sloppy," 22-year-old Michael Blown, who found the document, was quoted as saying.
"Whoever is responsible for losing it needs to be severely spoken to," he said, suggesting the list could have belonged to a group of men seen drinking and playing pool before him.
The Mirror, which published a photograph of the document with details of the ports blacked out, said it had now passed it on to the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
An MoD spokesman was quoted as saying that the document was provided for sailors' families to indicate the ship's likely movements.
"It is not classified but it is sensitive and we make it clear that those given copies should look after them. That this information has entered the public domain is disappointing," the spokesman said.
"We will need to take this into account when we make the risk assessments for the port visits and in finalising the ship's programme over the next year. "We will be reminding our people of the importance of looking after this document in the future."
Think that is bad, the nuclear foot ball got let on Airforce once 2xs while Carter was President.
Oh puhleeeeeez. Someone needs to do some brig time.
Keel Hauled.
In your opinion, is getting "keel-hauled" better or worse than walking the plank?
Who made this kid a security expert? If there's been a lapse, I'm sure the MoD will take care of it.
The student who found this and took it to The Mirror instead of authorities should be charged the same as a spy.
Well, with Keel Hauling, you can 'forget' to keep the rope moving.
And these days one can kick up the ships speed fairly quickly.
So he can get battered against the hull the entire time.
And if he comes loose from the rope in front of the ships screws, oh well.
So it is better from one point of view -no chance of survival, but it is a more severe punishment due to certain death.
Letting something like that out into public isn't good, but it's hardly a leak of real significance. Sounds like the newspaper is just trying to hype this story.
British understatemnt
I'd imagine it was pretty hard to hold your breath while your hide was being scraped off against the barnacles on the ship's hull.
BTW, Keelhaul was apparently also an 80's Second British Invasion angyst band. Their claim to fame is that they once opened for the Smiths.
Arrr, matey-- anarchist butt pirates!
Yeah!
This reminds me of a news item during the First Gulf War.
A briefcase with classified information went missing from a cab. A few days later it showed up at the Ministry of Defense with the following note:
"I may be a common thief, but I love my Queen and I love my country and the guy who left this behind should be shot!
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