MoD accused of "dangerous levels of incompetence" for having no idea who has seen nuclear secrets

The Ministry of Defence has admitted it has no idea who has been viewing some of its nuclear secrets for at least eight years.

The revelation comes at a time of heightened global tensions, and fears that Russian agents may be behind a ‘honeytrap’ WhatsApp plot involving Westminster MPs.

The Atomic Weapons Establishment, an arm’s length agency of the MoD which houses all its atomic secrets as well as data on Britain’s nuclear deterrent and Cold War weapons trials, has admitted an audit trail of access to highly-classified files was wiped by a computer update.

South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck, who sits on the Defence Select Committee, said: “It is absolutely astonishing that at a critical time for our security, no minister has been across this. Such dangerous levels of incompetence need addressing urgently.”

The discovery was made as a result of Freedom of Information requests from the Mirror about the Merlin database, a secure computer system at AWE in Aldermaston, Berkshire, which holds more than 28,000 top secret atomic records.

They include references to blood and urine testing of UK troops during the 1950s and 1960s, which have been indefinitely locked from public view and are now subject to a legal action by veterans who say their official medical records have been falsified.

AWE says the database was created in 2014 to hold records of anything that might affect litigation by the veterans, including raw scientific data from the testing programme. The government has confirmed some of the files are withheld on the grounds they would be useful to terrorists, could harm national security, and damage international relations.

The records are regarded as state secrets with the highest-possible security classification, and only 7 AWE staff have clearance to access them.

The AWE FOI response

The Mirror asked for details of the audit trail that logs access to the documents, but the AWE responded that “due to a system software change we can only provide information from 2022”.

But it added that in those 16 months – during which the Mirror uncovered and publicised the Nuked Blood Scandal, and veterans launched legal action – the database had been accessed 283 times, an average of once every 3 days.

Even after the software update, the AWE had no idea for what reason staff had accessed some of the most secure files in the country. The AWE stated reasons could include FOI requests and data protection demands, but that in each case the only reason given by officials was “opening database”.

A spokesman for AWE said: “Access to the Merlin database is rigorously controlled to ensure that only those officials at AWE with the appropriate level of security clearance are able to access it. This protects the recorded information on the databased which relates to historic technical and scientific information on the UK’s nuclear testing programme.”