Former MOD Permanent Secretary David Williams to give evidence on Afghan data breach
David Williams, former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence (MOD), and Paul Rimmer, who led the review into the Government’s policy response to the Afghan data breach, will give evidence to the Defence Committee.
Mr Rimmer is a former Deputy Chief of Defence Intelligence. He led a policy review into the Afghan breach and resettlement scheme, commissioned by the MOD. The Rimmer review "found no evidence to determine there is a consistent or sustained effort to target" those affected by the breach, despite killings still taking place and extensive human rights violations. It concluded that the Afghan relocation and resettlement policy “appears a significant intervention, against potentially limited additional net risk”.
Meeting details
Members are likely to ask about the circumstances behind the commissioning of the review, and the level of confidence Mr Rimmer has in his conclusion that the breach is unlikely to be endangering Afghans.
Mr Williams was the Permanent Secretary at the MOD between 2021 and 2025, during Operation PITTING, the data breach and the subsequent super-injunction. He has since left this position. He will appear alongside Paul Lincoln, the former Second Permanent Secretary at the MOD. While in this role, Mr Lincoln was responsible for corporate functions, including information and systems security and led the MOD’s response to the discovery of the data breach.
Members are likely to ask questions around data security in the MOD, the appropriateness of the super-injunction and accountability within the MOD for the breach. The problems surrounding the relocations and assistance policy scheme applications of the Afghan “Triples”, the former Afghan government's Army commandos, may be covered.