UK Defence Ministry admits to lost hardware

The Guardian reports.

In response to various news stories on the issue, the ministry has issued a statement saying 188 of the devices were lost or stolen, although 20 were subsequently recovered.

According to The Huffington Post, defence minister Andrew Robathan defended the department, but said it was inevitable that some equipment would go missing, given the size of the ministry.

"The Ministry of Defence (MOD) takes any loss and theft of Communications and Information Systems (CIS) and associated media storage devices very seriously," he said.

"The size and complexity of the MOD, more than 250 000 individuals operating all round the world, from permanent bases and in theatre, and with frequent movement of kit between locations in support of operations, means it is almost inevitable that equipment will go missing.”

The Daily Mail writes that the MOD also reported 150 backup tapes used to store information were missing.

Staff at the department also lost 18 mobile phones, 10 BlackBerrys and 194 CDs or DVDs.

Figures showed 135 other items, mainly USB tokens, but also including radios, 3G cards and cameras, were also reported lost or stolen since the Coalition took office.