A High Court judge has lifted a two-year super-injunction that had concealed a Ministry of Defence data breach exposing the personal details of almost 19,000 Afghans who sought resettlement in the United Kingdom. The same spreadsheet also carried the identities of more than 100 British spies, special-forces soldiers and other officials who had endorsed the applications. The leak occurred in February 2022, when a defence official mistakenly emailed the unprotected file outside the MoD’s secure network. The department became aware of the breach only 18 months later, yet the then-Conservative government obtained an unprecedented gag order to block reporting while it assessed the damage. Former defence secretary Ben Wallace, who requested the injunction, said this week he makes “no apology” for the move, arguing it bought time to protect those at risk. Current Defence Secretary John Healey delivered a formal apology to Parliament after the injunction was lifted on 15 July and commissioned an urgent inquiry. Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee has ordered the MoD to hand over classified assessments and the unredacted internal review that informed the court action. The breach prompted the previous government to set up a covert evacuation programme, the Afghanistan Response Route, in April 2024. About 4,500 people—900 applicants and roughly 3,600 relatives—have been flown to the UK so far. Government spending on the initiative stands at roughly £400 million, with officials projecting a final bill of about £850 million. Lawyers representing Afghans still in hiding say thousands plan to sue the MoD, potentially adding a further £1 billion in compensation costs. An independent review commissioned earlier this year concluded the data is unlikely to enhance Taliban targeting capabilities, but Afghans whose names were revealed say the risk to relatives has intensified. Security experts also warn that inclusion of serving UK intelligence and special-forces personnel highlights systemic weaknesses: the MoD scrapped an email safety check in 2018, leaving no barriers to accidental external transmission of sensitive files.