British intelligence chief's security compromised by wife's Facebook postings

Sir John Sawers, who takes up the post in November, found himself at the centre of the embarrassing security row after it was revealed that his wife, Shelley, had posted the sort of information that MI6 operatives are supposed to keep under wraps on her Facebook page. As well as the photos, she had posted details about their children and the location of the flat the couple use in London.

She had not taken advantage of Facebook's privacy settings, so all the information was available to any of the 200 million users in the open-access London network, as well as being searchable on Google.

 

"C" – as the head of MI6 is known – was pictured playing on a beach in close-fitting swimming shorts as well as relaxing at family gatherings.

There were messages congratulating Sir John, currently Britain's ambassador to the United Nations, on his new appointment 10 days ago. One even joked that his nephews had already nicknamed him "uncle C".




Lady Sawers’ half-brother, Hugo Haig-Thomas, a former diplomat, was among those featured in family photographs on Facebook. Mr HaigThomas was an associate and researcher for David Irving, the controversial historian who was jailed in Austria in 2006 after pleading guilty to Holocaust denial.

Patrick Mercer, the Conservative chairman of the Commons counter-terrorism sub-committee, said that the entries were a serious error and potentially damaging.

“Sir John Sawers is in a very sensitive position and by revealing this sort of material his family have left him open to criticism and blackmail,” he told reportes. “We can’t have the head of MI6 being compromised by having personal details of his life being posted on Facebook.

He said that terrorists and hostile intelligence services could trawl through Facebook and Twitter websites to uncover personal details of diplomats and civil servants who might end up in highly sensitive jobs.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, was dismissive yesterday of the security implications of the incident. Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One, he said that it was “no state secret” that Sir John wore Speedo swimming trunks on family holidays, referring to one of the published photographs. “For goodness’ sake, let’s grow up,” he said.