THE top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence will leave in the coming months, the department has announced.
An MoD spokesperson said on Friday: “Permanent Secretary David Williams will step down this autumn and the recruitment process for his successor is under way.
“Since 2021, David has led the department through a period of significant activity, and we thank him for his contribution.”
Williams was appointed as MoD Permanent Secretary in April 2021.
It comes after the department faced questions over a data breach in which a defence official released details of almost 19,000 people seeking to flee Afghanistan after the return of the Taliban.
Along with the Afghan nationals, the details of more than 100 British officials were compromised, including special forces and MI6 personnel.
An injunction blocked reporting of the matter until it was lifted earlier this summer.
Defence sources have said that details of MI6 spies, SAS and special forces personnel were included in the spreadsheet, after they had endorsed Afghans who had applied to be brought to the UK.
The Ministry of Defence became aware of the blunder only when excerpts from the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023, and a superinjunction was granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak.
The leak also led to the creation of the secret Afghanistan Response Route, which is understood to have cost about £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of about £850m.
A total of about 6900 people are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme.
The official responsible for the email error was moved to a new role but not sacked.
The superinjunction was in place for almost two years, covering Labour and Conservative governments.
Labour MP and chairman of the defence select committee, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, said: “Defence permanent secretary David Williams’ many years of dedicated public service deserve respect.
“It’s not yet clear whether his decision to step down is linked to the recently revealed Afghan data breach.
“However, what is clear is that this grave failure of data protection demands proper scrutiny, which the defence committee certainly intends to provide.
“While our committee has agreed to inquire into this shocking situation, we have yet to determine the full scope for that, including who will be called to give evidence.
“The fact that this breach has put at risk our courageous British service personnel and the Afghans who bravely supported them, makes the situation even more shocking.
“I am sure the committee will want to investigate and understand how this could have been allowed to happen.”
