The Committee Has Been Told That ***

Secretary calling for a review of the 14 deaths, given the “considerable concerning evidence” from BuzzFeed which raised “questions over the robustness of the police investigations”.63 59. The Committee has taken evidence on these matters. We have been told that ***. *** 64 60. We questioned whether the need to protect those at risk in the UK has been given sufficient priority. We were assured that all figures at risk – Russian or otherwise – receive protection according to the level of risk, through a police-led process ***.65 61. We welcomed this process, but questioned whether the Intelligence Community has a clear picture of how many Russians there are in the UK who are at risk – for example, would MI5 or any other relevant agency ***? This would appear to be an immediate and obvious way in to the issue, and the ***, so it would appear manageable. In response we were told that ***. 60 A Tier 1 (Investor) visa allows the recipient to stay in the UK for three years and four months in exchange for a £2m investment in the UK. 61 These include such high-profile figures as ***. 62 ‘From Russia with Blood’, BuzzFeed News, 15 June 2017. 63 Letter from the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee to the Home Secretary, 6 March 2018. 64 *** 65 Oral evidence – *** February 2019. 17

A cropped page from a British parliamentary report has several passages highlighted in green, with repeated redacted sections replaced by asterisks. The joke is that the official, highly bureaucratic text becomes absurdly mysterious because nearly every important detail is censored, making it useful as a reaction to opaque explanations, evasive statements, or an intentionally overcomplicated situation.

• @infosecmemes / 329 2020-07-21