$5000 fine for losing top secret documents on al Qaida

A civil servant, Richard Jackson, working at the Cabinet Office who left top secret documents, regarding al Qaida in Iraqy and Pakistan, is set to receive a $5000 fine. When the documents were found they were passed on to the BBC.

According to Whitehall officials this was a serious breach of national security and Jackson will only face a $5000 fine? INSANE. Sky News

City of Westminster Magistrates Court heard that the highly sensitive Whitehall intelligence files "had the potential to damage national security and UK international relations".

Richard Jackson, a top director working at the Cabinet Office, admitted negligence after leaving the documents on a train on his way to work on June 10.

The court heard that one of the documents was marked top secret and the other was mid-level security.

The documents were passed to the BBC by a member of the public who discovered them inside an orange cardboard envelope left on a train from Waterloo to Surrey.

The court heard Mr Jackson, who had taken the files home inadvertently, was "physically sick" when he discovered their loss.

....

The civil servant, 37, of Yateley, Hampshire,faces a maximum possible sentence of three months in jail or a fine.

Sky's foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said Whitehall was "appalled, embarrassed and angry" after the Joint Intelligence Committee documents on Iraq and al Qaeda were found.

"They were destined to be distributed around the top echelons of British intelligence," Marshall said.

"The fact is there has been a really serious breach," Marshall said.

"However, I'm told no damage has been done to national security."

The documents are said to relate to security in Iraq and al Qaeda in Pakistan.