- Date released
- 24 September 2020
- Request number
- 202008025
- Release of information under
- Freedom of Information Act 2000
Information requested
- Please provide me with copies of all incident reports submitted to the Office for Nuclear Regulation relating to the sightings of drone swarms at nuclear licensed sites over the period 1 January 2014 – 31 July 2020.
- By 'drone swarm' I mean sightings of more than one drone simultaneously at the same licensed site.
- Please only provide me with reports for incidents that have been recorded as potential security incidents by ONR and / or the site operator.
Information released
In considering your request we feel it would initially be helpful to clarify that ‘drone swarm’ is not a term that we recognise or use at ONR, however we have considered your request in line with the description that you have provided above (sightings of more than one drone simultaneously at the same licensed site).
Therefore, I confirm that under Section 1 of the FOIA, we hold the information related to your request. However we are withholding the information under Section 24 (Safeguarding National Security) of the FOIA.
As you are aware the exemption applies where withholding the information requested is required for the purposes of safeguarding national security. It works to protect national security, which includes protection of potential targets. It allows a public authority not to disclose information if it considers releasing the information would make the UK or its citizens more vulnerable to a national security threat.
We have made a careful and thorough assessment of your request and consider that the information falls within this category and as such is required to be exempt from disclosure for the purposes of safeguarding of national security. We understand that you will be disappointed by this decision but we hope that our explanation, as set out in the public interest test and further information below, helps set out our reasoning.
As this is a qualified exemption, we are required to balance the public interest between disclosure and non-disclosure. We have therefore applied the Public Interest Test, as set out below:
Section 24 FOIA – Safeguarding national security
Factors for disclosure:
- ONR is committed to being an open and transparent regulator. We will use openness and transparency to achieve our objective of developing and maintaining stakeholder trust in ONR as an effective independent regulator.
- It could provide the public with an increased amount of information (giving reassurance or otherwise) about how licensed sites are being protected, and whether or not those measures are effective and proportionate.
Factors against disclosure:
- Under Section 24(2) of the FOIA, information that relates to the purposes of safeguarding national security and which may be of use to terrorists and other hostile actors, is exempt from disclosure.
- Drones are known to be capable of (i) carrying out reconnaissance flights to obtain target information for hostile actors, and (ii) undertaking unmanned attacks on targets on behalf of hostile actors. Disclosing information into the public domain which would assist hostile actors in better understanding the security capabilities and measures in place to detect drone sightings at licensed sites would be contrary to the purpose of safeguarding national security as it would help to enable them to determine when and where drone activity has been detected in the past, and to use this information for potential criminal activity in the future.
- Adversaries or hostile actors can be highly motivated and may go to great lengths to gather separate pieces of intelligence to attempt to expose vulnerabilities.
- This risk of potential damage to national security is further impacted due to the specific sub-set of information that has been requested. Your request not only seeks information about sightings that have been detected, but specifically which sightings have been recorded by site operators as potential security incidents. Providing this specific level of detailed information could further help to enable hostile actors to identify how different activities are detected, assessed and classified in terms of their potential threat. That information could enable hostile actors to tailor their activities.
- Undermining the security of a licensed nuclear site could increase the likelihood of a hostile actor attempting to steal or sabotage nuclear material. Either scenario could lead to consequences so grave that this weighs heavily in favour of it being in the public interest that the information is withheld.
- Paragraph 13 of Section 24(1) makes it clear that there need be no evidence that an attack is imminent for this exemption to be applied.
Conclusion
After careful consideration of the factors set out above, ONR has concluded that the information should be withheld. On balance, the interests of national security outweigh the need for openness in terms of the specific information that you have requested. There is a strong public interest in safeguarding national security. Therefore, it is our judgement that publication of the information requested would not be in the public interest.
Further Information
To put this into context, it is known that Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) have been used by terrorist groups to conduct hostile reconnaissance of their targets and also to conduct attacks using explosive devices. Consequently, ONR will not release information about Unmanned Aerial Vehicle activity near a licensed site, which in turn would alert hostile actors that their reconnaissance or attack planning activity has or has not been detected.
Exemptions applied
Section 24
PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable
Yes, please see above.