Defence expert undermines Blair on safety of ID cards

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

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- -------- Original Message --------
Subject: Defence expert undermines Blair on safety of ID cards
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 08:48:23 +0000
From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk>
To: dave () farber net

Hi Dave:

Ahead of tonight's vote in the House of Commons on the National ID
Card bill, the (UK) Guardian has published an interview with Brian
Gladman (wrongly named Gladwin in an otherwise competent article).

It will be interesting to see if his intervention has any effect.

cheers

Brian

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1708462,00.html

>  David Hencke and Vikram Dodd
> Monday February 13, 2006
> The Guardian
>
> A British Nato and defence specialist today undermines Tony Blair 
> and Charles Clarke's claims that the new identity cards database for 
> 60 million British citizens is safe and secure.
>
> The disclosure to the Guardian came as Mr Blair was flying home from 
> South Africa overnight to vote this evening to introduce compulsory 
> ID cards and give ministers powers to order all motorists to replace 
> their driving licence with a new one requiring a biometric ID card.
>
> Brian Gladwin, from Worcester, now a security consultant to US 
> government agencies, said Mr Blair and the home secretary had got it 
> wrong when they accused critics of producing "a technically 
> incompetent report" on ID cards. They had accused the report's main 
> author, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, Simon 
> Davies, of bias because he is also a director of Privacy 
> International, a human rights group that opposes ID cards.
>
> Now Dr Gladwin, who led research into protecting foreign spies from 
> compromising the country's most secure communciations system, has 
> written to Mr Blair saying he was the author of the sections of the 
> report dealing with safety and security. He pointed out that the 
> "technically incompetent" data was subject to review by the LSE 
> before publication by two "independent information security experts, 
> both of whom are internationally recognised for their expertise".
>
> He warns the new database will "create safety and security risks for 
> all those whose details are entered on the system".
>
> In a damning blow to ministers' claims of bias, he tells Mr Blair 
> "in case you think that I am an opponent of ID cards, I should point 
> out that I support an irrevocably voluntary, self-funded ID card 
> scheme".
>
> He reveals he would rather pay fines than join a compulsory scheme, 
> saying "it is shameful that those who are less well-off will be 
> forced to put themselves at serious risk for a system that serves no 
> purpose that cannot be achieved in other, more effective and less 
> costly ways".
>
> Ministers had sought to undermine the report's findings because it 
> has been a key issue in fuelling the rebellion among Labour MPs on 
> ID cards, which halved the government's majority and led to a string 
> of defeats in the Lords.
>
> Dr Gladwin has an impressive career profile. Between 1980 and 1990, 
> he directed research for the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, 
> which provides secure communciations and eavesdropping. From 1988 to 
> 1995, he procured secure defence communications and information 
> systems for the ministry. In 1996, he was deputy director at Nato's 
> headquarters in charge of their security systems. He has sent a copy 
> of the letter to Sir Menzies Campbell, acting leader of the Liberal 
> Democrats, and David Cameron, leader of the Tory party.
>
> Sir Menzies said last night: "This is a serious blow to the 
> credibility of the government's case for ID cards." He added that 
> the expert appeared to undermine claims by both the prime minister 
> and the home secretary over the security of the new system.

- --
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/

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