Access to British top secret establishments.

[johnofgwent]

Amazing how an assumption by a non-mainstrean journalist about a coloured flash on an ID card — which all people working in the Palace of Westminster and other government buildings are required to wear when entering and on the premises — get some on here posing as insiders with special knowledge...

I don't know what goes on today.

I do, however, know what i had to do - and not do - in order to get into, and be welcomed back into - certain areas of HMS Dolphin, HMS Collingwood, HMS Excellent and the fifth floor of Adastra Park.

But that all predates the closure of Dolphin - or at least, the bits I went there for.

Maybe to day they do allow you to wave the means by which you gain entry round your necks like some sort of perverted gay pride stripper ...

It would certainly be in keeping with the desire within certain quarters as to how such should be portrayed...

[papasmurf]

Way more interesting in the days of Burgess and Maclean, and that James Blunt...

They would not have got into any of the secret establishments either. (There was the case of the couple who worked inside one of them in the 1960s, but I can't remember their names. A film was made about it.)

[patman post]

He is just the latest example of people who should not be given access to sensitive areas. Frankly security has got very lax in recent years.

Way more interesting in the days of Burgess and Maclean, and that James Blunt...

[patman post]

That is the point a visibly worn ID card is NOT a security pass not when it come to very secure establishments.  (Even if you do have a security pass, all that might possibly get you a temporary visitors pass and even then you would be under escort. It would not be "access all areas.")

Only level five enhanced clearance would give the bearer unrestricted unaccompanied access. Not many will have that, but I'd be risking all sorts of reprisal if I let on how that's to be found out....

[papasmurf]

.why you had to play silly buggers at the beginning Without just saying who you were talking about only you know......

He is just the latest example of people who should not be given access to sensitive areas. Frankly security has got very lax in recent years.

[cromwell]

Well TBH I think Cummings a T@@@,but this is as yet unverified....?.why you had to play silly buggers at the beginning Without just saying who you were talking about only you know......were you worried he might sue you or have someone shut you up for good?

[papasmurf]

Amazing how an assumption by a non-mainstrean journalist about a coloured flash on an ID card

That is the point a visibly worn ID card is NOT a security pass not when it come to very secure establishments.  (Even if you do have a security pass, all that might possibly get you a temporary visitors pass and even then you would be under escort. It would not be "access all areas.")

[patman post]

Amazing how an assumption by a non-mainstrean journalist about a coloured flash on an ID card — which all people working in the Palace of Westminster and other government buildings are required to wear when entering and on the premises — get some on here posing as insiders with special knowledge...

[papasmurf]

Well, as that chap from house of cards says, you might think that but i cannot possibly comment.

Quite, also as I sure you can back up John, if Cummings has been openly wearing a security ID he has broken the regulations anyway.
The only people that can be shown such cards are a MOD police officer in uniform or a normal police officer in uniform.
I cannot describe what those cards look like or I would be in breach of the Official Secrets Act.

[johnofgwent]

So now it's been established the subject is Cummings - has it been stated that he has never been subject to security vetting, and clearance? Or is that an assumption?

How would we know ?

I mean, I would probably be able to find out, if the idiots that ran the vetting record scheme are as lax as I suspect and never disabled my account when i did their IT support ....

This whole load of bull excreta came about because Guido picked up a piece run by an Australian Newspaper who got wind of it through an informer.

Cummings' security clearance status is said by the author of this piece to have been recently increased.

The basis for this claim is a colour flash on a photgraphic id pass card was hung on a lanyard round Cummings's neck

It is claimed that because an earlier photo showed a prominent yellow flash on his photocard, and a more recent photo depicts him wearing a lanyard on which his photo id has a green flash, he is now DV cleared for unaccompanied access to certain places and documents which he was not previously.


Well, as that chap from house of cards says, you might think that but i cannot possibly comment.


What I am prepared to say, and saying even this publicly is sufficient to ensure I'll never be as highly vetted as i was ever again, is that when i last held my highest level of clearance (whose existence i regret i am not at liberty to confirm or deny the existence of, never mind name), allowing your security pass carrying that level of clearance to be seen in the street never mind photographed, was sufficient to have that clearance revoked on the grounds your actions showed you were insufficiently security conscious to be permitted to be granted that level of clearance.

[papasmurf]

So now it's been established the subject is Cummings - has it been stated that he has never been subject to security vetting, and clearance? Or is that an assumption?

There have been past worries about it and no straight answer from number 10, BUT letting Cummings into areas and establishments where few people not on the staff of them are allowed into them is a very serious public concern.

[Nalaar]

So now it's been established the subject is Cummings - has it been stated that he has never been subject to security vetting, and clearance? Or is that an assumption?

[papasmurf]

MI5 would need a strong reason refuse access to UK security establishments to anyone in HM Government

But Cummings is NOT in HM government he is merely an advisor to it.
Given Cummings very doubtful background and his dodgy opinions expressed in print, I have to wonder just what dirt he has on Bojo The Clown.
In my opinion he is a very serious security risk.

[patman post]

As the Cabinet Office is responsible for national security vetting of parliamentary personnel, MI5 would need a strong reason refuse access to UK security establishments to anyone in HM Government — though it does tell the PM (and presumably Cummings would also know) and Leader of the opposition if it holds information that raises "serious national security concerns" about a potential member of the Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet who is likely to need access to sensitive areas...

[papasmurf]

Ministers, MPs and other senior appointments are not subject to vetting.

They are before they are given free access to certain military and other establishments. Which is why IF Cummings get inside those places given his three mysterious years in Russia is a matter of real public concern.
(Personally I would not let him near government, any government whatever the politics of it.)