Official who lost al Qaeda files "to be charged"

LONDON (Reuters) - A senior public official who left top secret intelligence assessments of al Qaeda and the security forces in Iraq on a London commuter train is to face charges, the BBC said on Monday.

The unnamed worker, who was on secondment to a government department from the Ministry of Defence, will be charged under the Official Secrets Act, according to the unsourced report.

Prosecutors recommended he be charged because of the highly sensitive nature of the files, the BBC's defence correspondent Frank Gardner said.

National security services rate the current threat of a terrorist attack as "severe," the second-highest state of alert. It says the most significant threat comes from al Qaeda.

The lost documents contained a "damning" assessment of Iraq's forces and the latest intelligence assessment of al Qaeda, marked "UK Top Secret," the BBC said in a report in June.

The official left the papers in an orange cardboard envelope on the seat of a train from Waterloo station in London to Surrey, it added. Another passenger found the envelope and handed it to the BBC.

The official, working in the Cabinet Office, the department that describes itself as the "head office" of government, was moved from his home on Monday after being informed of the decision to bring charges, Gardner said.

Spokesmen for the Metropolitan Police, Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the BBC report.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said it had handed its guidance on the case to Scotland Yard, but would not confirm details of its advice.