The army has launched an investigation after the names of SAS personnel drawn from one of its most senior regiments were published despite repeated warnings.
General Sir Roly Walker, head of the army, ordered the inquiry after it emerged details of Special Forces soldiers recruited from the Grenadier Guards had been publicly available online for a decade. John Healey, the defence secretary, is said to be “furious”.
Walker said: “The security of our people is of the utmost importance and we take any breach extremely seriously.” He said he had “directed an immediate review” into the “data sharing arrangements” that led to the incident.
General Sir Roly Walker, head of the army, ordered the inquiry
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The disclosure comes days after the Ministry of Defence revealed an official had accidentally disseminated the names of SAS members and MI6 operatives in a spreadsheet that also included the details of thousands of Afghans who had applied for sanctuary in the UK after the withdrawal of western forces in 2021. The government had used a super injunction to keep the information secret for 18 months until last week.
It has historically refused to even comment on the elite SAS, citing national security. Ministers have previously used the courts to block the publication of basic information about SAS missions in the Middle East, while its members are barred for life from discussing their involvement in the force unless they receive prior approval.
However, it can now be revealed that for a decade a Grenadier Guards in-house publication included a roll call of the names and current deployments of its most senior officers. Several were, or are, attached to the UK Special Forces. In the latest edition, published last year and available online, the names of ten men in the regiment appeared next to the codename “MAB” — shorthand for MoD A Block, which is the site of the UK Special Forces headquarters at the Regent’s Park Barracks in London.
The codename is available online and commonly known in military circles, meaning any terrorist group or enemy state would be able to work out that the soldiers were either serving in or affiliated with an elite unit.
The Sunday Times first reported on the security lapse in April but did not name the regiment to protect the identities of soldiers and give officials time to act. While another regiment permanently removed similar publications from the public domain, the Guards failed to do so. The information was finally deleted when the MoD was contacted again on Friday. At least 20 SAS members were named by the two regimental publications over more than a decade.
Healey has spoken to Walker, who commanded the Guards in 2009, about the incident.
The internal publication from 2024 also contained information about Guards deployed to the Cabinet Office’s National Security Secretariat — a team comprising military and intelligence personnel that advises the prime minister.
A soldier who served within the personal team of Walker was named as well. At the time, Walker was deputy chief of the defence staff, responsible for military strategy and operations.
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The document that contained the information is produced by the Grenadier Guards Regimental Association — a charitable enterprise composed of former service members. Such associations are routinely handed information relating to active personnel and the activities of the relevant regiment to assist their activities.
Walker said: “As a result of this incident, I have directed an immediate review into our data sharing arrangements with our regimental and corps associations to ensure appropriate guidance and safeguards are in place to best support the vital work they do.”
Defence officials said the Guards association had been ordered to remove all sensitive information, having deleted only part of the offending material originally. It has also been barred from distributing hard copies of the publication.
The Guards trace their lineage back to the 1600s, when Lord Wentworth’s Regiment was raised to protect the exiled Charles II.