Dear Ministry of Defence,

In June 2021 BBC News reported that nearly 50 pages of MOD documents had been found in " a soggy heap behind a bus stop in Kent" by a member of the public.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57624942

The BBC has published images of some of the documents . The BBC also described them as having different levels of classification from Official Sensitive to Secret UK Eyes Only.

Please provide a a copies of all the documents found behind the bus stop in Kent.

I am not seeking personal information.

Yours faithfully,

Ceri Gibbons

Dear Ministry of Defence,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Ministry of Defence's handling of my FOI request 'MOD documents found at bus stop (June 2021)'.

I am not satisfied that exemptions under sections 24 and 26 have been properly applied in this case.

The public interest in disclosure of these documents clearly outweighs the public interest in continued secrecy for the following reasons.

1. The BBC reports " most of the papers are marked "official sensitive", a relatively low level of classification."

2. The BBC is an important global media outlet funded by the British state and not known for being particularly critical in its coverage of British defence policy in recent years. Yet the BBC on this unusual occasion reported that the MOD documents contained premeditated plans to provoke likely military responses from Russian forces in the Black Sea. The planned operation that was carried out by HMS Defender then provoked such a response.

3. The MOD misreported the actual events of the operation on the day it occurred, presenting the confrontation as unprovoked Russian aggression where it was clearly a planned MOD test of Russian defences signed off by the highest levels of the British government.

4. The BBC reported warning shots were fired by Russian forces, yet the MOD denied any warning shots were fired in its own reports. The situation was deliberately allowed to escalate risking a possible military confrontation between Britain and Russia.

5. The BBC reports confirmed the MOD first planned a provocative operation with alternative routes with various levels of risk . It then risked a more dangerous confrontation with Russian forces and falsely reported the events to the British public as Russian aggression carried out against a peaceful British ship.

6. The public interest in disclosure of the plans of the HMS Defender's operation are greater than their continued low level classification as the documents would shed light on the MOD media and information operations deployed in this operation against the British public that appear to have contained false information.
This was only uncovered because of the fact a BBC journalist was on board the HMS Defender and the classified planning documents were found at a bus stop. Without both these apparently accidental events the MOD may have continued to misreport the false sequence of events to the British public and provided a pretext for a more serious confrontation with far graver implications.

7. Disclosure of the documents may shed light on the extent to which the apparent MOD disinformation was planned in advance of the HMS Defender operation and was intended to target the British public. The use of information operations targeting false information at British civilian audiences is not in expressly ruled out in MOD Media Operations policy.

8. The MOD have till now withheld parts of its Targeting Policy (JSP900) that explains policy on targeting Information Operations. The MOD documents seen by the BBC may shed light on the issue as to whether an MOD policy has been approved that allows targeting of the British public with false information in order to maintain consent of military actions. If such a policy has been approved on this single occassion, or is an ongoing general policy, the public interest in the disclosure of any related documents that may shed light on this issue are of utmost importance to civilian democratic oversight of British military policy.

Yours faithfully,

Ceri Gibbons

Dear CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER),

Please provide an update on the progress of this internal review

Yours sincerely,

Ceri Gibbons

Dear CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER),

2021/07166

Please provide an update on the progress of this FOIA case.

Yours sincerely,

Ceri Gibbons

Dear CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER),

Please provide an update on the progress of this internal review.

Yours sincerely,

Ceri Gibbons