The personal information of MI6 spies, Special Air Service, and special forces personnel was compromised in a massive United Kingdom data leak, which forced the relocation of thousands of Afghan collaborators.

Defense ministry sources speaking with Sky News and The Guardian said the recently revealed massive data leak on Afghans who worked with the U.K. government also included compromising information on over 100 U.K. citizens. The citizens included in the list were the sponsors of collaborators looking for refuge. The list contained the names and email addresses, and in some cases more private information, of some of the most closely guarded identities in the British government.

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On Tuesday, U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey revealed to the House of Commons that a massive data breach in 2022 led to a clandestine operation to relocate roughly 6,900 Afghans to the U.K. after their identities were compromised. He offered a “sincere apology” for the error and secrecy around the operation. The MoD had obtained a superinjunction in September 2023 after the breach was discovered, prohibiting eight media organizations and their journalists from reporting on the matter.

“And no government wishes to withhold information from the British public, from parliamentarians or the press in this manner,” he said.

The 6,900, including 1,500 people compromised and their families, are just a small fraction of the nearly 80,000-100,000 estimated to have been affected by the breach. Last June, judges speculated that those exposed could face harassment, torture, or death if discovered by the Taliban.

The relocation costs alone are estimated to total over $1 billion by the time it’s finished.

The breach occurred after an unidentified defense official at the U.K. Special Forces headquarters sent an email containing a casework file for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy in February 2022, according to the BBC. The outlet reported that the official is no longer at his post.

In August 2023, excerpts from a spreadsheet containing the compromising information were shared on a Facebook group, alerting the MoD. According to the BBC, an Afghan man who had been turned down for relocation posted the names of nine people included in the spreadsheet on the app. He was offered an expedited review of his application in return for taking it down. He’s now in the U.K. and not facing any criminal charges.

The U.K. set up the Afghanistan Response Route, separate from the ARAP, in April 2024. Those targeted were not informed of the data leak.

As of May 2025, those affected by the leak make up over 16,000 of the more than 36,000 Afghans who have moved to the U.K. since August 2021.

While the leak of information of SAS, MI6, and other special forces operatives doesn’t put them in the same immediate danger as the exposed Afghans, their compromise could jeopardize their work and put them at risk of targeting by foreign intelligence adversaries.

UK SMUGGLED IN THOUSANDS OF AFGHANS AFTER 2022 DATA LEAK

Healey said the leaked spreadsheet contained “names and contact details of applicants and, in some instances, information relating to applicants’ family members, and in a small number of cases, the names of members of parliament, senior military officers and government officials were noted as supporting the application.”

Despite fears from the government that the leaked information could have led to a deluge of revenge violence, retired civil servant Paul Rimmer concluded in a review carried out for the government that the document “may not have spread nearly as widely as initially feared,” and may not have been of great use to the Taliban if found.