Angus Lapsley is not a spy, but he will not represent Britain in NATO
LONDON, BM, ($1=0.72 British Pounds) – A senior government official who lost 50 pages of classified documents from the UK Department of Defense was in line for the post of the UK’s permanent representative to NATO, The Guardian reported, citing informed sources.
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According to the interlocutors of the publication, the employee who lost the secret documents, found later at a bus stop in the English county of Kent, is Angus Lapsley. At the time of the incident, he was only claiming the position of Britain’s ambassador to NATO. Lapsley’s appointment is now unlikely.
It is noted that after the incident Lapsley was temporarily transferred from the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No final decision has been made on Lapsley’s punishment, which has disappointed some security officials and government officials.
According to the publication, the most likely punishment that will be faced by the civil servant will be the further suspension of his access to classified materials, which will probably last for months.
“The person concerned has been removed from secret work and his access to classified information has already been suspended pending a final decision,” the foreign ministry told the newspaper.
Last week, the UK Department of Defense said in a written statement to parliament that it had found “no evidence of espionage” in Lapsley’s actions and that all classified material had been recovered.
The newspaper notes that Lapsley is a respected official with many years of experience, who first became a civil servant in 1991. He was a private secretary to Prime Minister Tony Blair and then joined the State Department.
He regularly participates in expert discussions of think tanks on defense and foreign policy issues.
On June 27, the British BBC reported that a passer-by had found secret documents from the British Ministry of Defense at a bus stop in the English county of Kent, in particular – about the movement of the destroyer “Defender” in the Black Sea.
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