Electronic surveillance

Sajid Javid admits MI5 committed serious safeguard breaches

MI5 has committed “serious” breaches of surveillance safeguards in the way it handles information obtained under interception warrants, the home secretary, Sajid Javid, has admitted.

So severe was the compliance failure that the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO) sent a team of inspectors into the intelligence agency for a week to investigate, according to the human rights organisation Liberty.

Liberty is one of a number of NGOs taking legal action over what it alleges are excessively intrusive surveillance powers. The IPCO, chaired by the appeal court judge Sir Adrian Fulford, is the official body responsible for overseeing government surveillance practices.