\nBy Jason Lewis
\nLast updated at 10:06 PM on 29th November 2008\n<\/p>\n
\nDetails of one of Britain’s most sensitive spy centres have been revealed in official documents posted on the internet by a local council.<\/strong><\/p>\n Whitehall security officials have raised serious concerns after the authority published a planning file revealing the ‘national security’ role of the development.<\/p>\n The major blunder means that the full details of what is believed to be a covert MI5 operations centre – used to share intelligence with MI6 and GCHQ – are now in the public domain.<\/p>\n The documents include plans of the building and details of its sophisticated ‘anti-intruder measures’. Diagrams in the planning file show banks of computer servers, which are understood to form part of a system designed to speed up intelligence-sharing between Britain’s security agencies.<\/p>\n The project was designed to disguise the giant computer hub by hiding it in an anonymous-looking warehouse in the South-East of England.<\/p>\n But the documents published by the council – which The Mail on Sunday has decided not to name for security reasons – show photographs and maps of the building and leave little doubt over what it is being used for.<\/p>\n Emails from the planning officers involved in the decision to give the go-ahead to the massive development also demonstrate the site’s importance to national security.<\/p>\n A message from a part-time worker in the council’s planning department explains the sensitivity of the site.<\/p>\n Incredibly, this discussion has been published on the internet.<\/p>\n He says: ‘This is essentially a high security data back-up storage centre. The generators are required to maintain power and national security when the mains power supply is not available.’<\/p>\n The warehouse will also be used as a service centre for MI5’s vehicle fleet.<\/p>\n The application was submitted by the Ministry of Defence using an apparently fictitious PO box number for a London postcode that does not exist.<\/p>\n The security blunder was unearthed by Alan Turnbull, who runs an internet site called Secret Bases. This specialises in identifying operations centres used by the security agencies.<\/p>\n He said: ‘Details of this highly sensitive site were extraordinarily easy to find. It seems incredible that local officials have published all this material – apparently without considering the full implications of that decision.<\/p>\n ‘I alerted the Ministry of Defence to what I had found and how easily I found it.’<\/p>\n Last night the local council at the centre of the decision to publish the material on the internet said: ‘There is a legal requirement that we publish all details of planning applications. We, like many other local authorities, make this information available on the internet.<\/p>\n ‘It would be down to the applicant themselves to ask for restrictions on what is revealed of their plans.<\/p>\n ‘Neither the applicant nor their agents asked for any restrictions in this case.’\n<\/p>\n
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\nThey also reveal sensitive information about the number of staff – including security guards – who will work at the spy centre, as well as its hours of operation and the location of all its security cameras.<\/p>\n