Britain's nuclear submarine base sees ten-times more security breaches since Russian invasion of Ukraine
Experts warn the UK has become the number one target for Russian "hybrid warfare" campaigns.
There has been a tenfold increase in the number of security incidents at Britain's nuclear submarine base since Russia's full invasion of Ukraine, LBC has learned.
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Breaches at HMNB Clyde - commonly known as Faslane - have soared from 16 incidents being recorded in 2021 to 149 last year, according to data uncovered by LBC through Freedom of Information requests.
It represents a staggering 831% rise at the home of the Vanguard fleet, the four submarines capable of being armed with nuclear-enabled Trident missiles.
Experts warn the UK has become the number one target for Russian "hybrid warfare" campaigns.
It means security incidents have continued to rise since LBC exposed the first significant increase in 2022.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson told LBC at the time, "its security procedures are reviewed and updated regularly to improve effectiveness".
The new information exposes a similar concerning rise in security incidents at the nearby Royal Navy Armaments Depot at Coulport, which acts as a storage and maintenance facility for Trident nuclear warheads.
It shows 19 were recorded at the site last year, compared to just 9 in 2021, and as few as 2 in 2018.
The former head of the British Army General Sir Patrick Sanders told LBC's Andrew Marr he agreed our findings were more evidence of the hybrid warfare threat facing Britain.
Sir Sanders said: "One thing you can be absolutely certain of is that when we look at the threat that Russia poses to Europe, that hybrid threat, that sub-threshold threat, whether that is around attacks on critical national infrastructure, on undersea cables, cyber attacks, assassinations, that full range, we're going to experience that at a much greater scale and intensity than we have.
"We also need to tie those hybrid threats to the potential for above threshold attacks as well.
"So it's not merely enough to strengthen our national resilience; that's an important thing to do, but we've also got to deter Russia from acting opportunistically to achieve the sort of objectives that Putin has been very clear about, restoring greater historic Russia.
"There's a reason why the Finns, the Estonians, the Lithuanians, the Latvians feel that their territory is under threat. And restoring both conventional, but also unconventional deterrence, that sort of resilience, is really important."
Meanwhile, Christopher Steele, who headed MI6's Russia desk, warned that the Kremlin is dramatically stepping up its attacks on UK infrastructure.
Mr Steele told LBC: "Russia regards itself as in a state of war now with not just Ukraine, but also Ukraine's main allies in Europe, including the UK.
"In fact, our intelligence suggests that Moscow now regards the UK as its main foreign adversary rather than the US since Trump came back to office.
"So there'd bound to be a focus on our key strategic capabilities. And one of those is, of course, our submarines based at Faslane, which provide our only nuclear deterrent at a strategic level.
"In or order to effectively manipulate, cow, frighten, disrupt our society and our economy, what they will do is precisely the sort of thing you're talking about, it's sabotage, arson, assassination and so on around Europe, including in the UK (at a level) just below what would be the threshold for declaring war from our point of view and for our population's point of view.
"But they're nevertheless aimed at dividing and weakening both our society, our capabilities militarily and economically, and our alliances.
"We are in a sort of shadow war effectively with Russia, where Russia is carrying out certain types of operations on the UK soil and other places in Europe and we are not carrying out such operations, as far as I'm aware of and can believe, on Russian soil...and I think that will continue into the future as Britain is seen particularly as the strongest foreign ally of Ukraine and the sort of the rallying cry for the other Western European countries to keep them in line in supporting Ukraine through its crisis, particularly economically."
The MOD would not tell LBC what was behind each security incident but states they 'refer to - but are not limited to - incidents of minor breaches, mis-accounted documentation, lost ID cards and breaches of personal electronic device zones and general data protection regulation'.
Former senior British Army intelligence officer Philip Ingram MBE told LBC the findings underscore the need to rapidly improve defence funding and security training.
He said: "The thing that concerns me is the trend of breaches is going up.
"Now, that can be down to two things. One, people are being more diligent and reporting incidents, but it's actually an indication that there is likely to be more incidents.
"We are seeing alongside this, reports of lack of investment in our nuclear deterrent capability and our armed forces; put all of that together and it's a very worrying trend... And not just Russia, China as well - they're trying to get access to our nuclear secrets.
"The trend is worrying, and it is a reflection on a) the level of control that there is on our classified material, and b) the level of training and oversight that there is on the individuals, both military and civilian, who are involved in all of this. And it's something that needs to be nipped in the bud quickly because it will only get worse."
And the Chair of the Defence Select Committee Tan Dhesi MP agreed while highlighting the evolving threats faced at British bases.
He told LBC: These figures are extremely concerning. I want to commend LBC on actually exposing those increased security breaches at military bases.
"This is something that the Defence Committee has also discussed when we were recently over at His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde, or more commonly known as Faslane.
"We discussed the security issues there, including the ability, for example, of drones to be going into or hovering over our military bases.
"There's been an increased propensity for that to happen and not just above airports.
"The Government has said that it has learned lessons or it's undertaken reviews...on the Defence Committee, we would want those measures implemented because this isn't something that is just happening here and now. I think this could well be an increased occurrence if we do not take remedial steps going forward."
In response to the figures, a Royal Navy spokesperson said:"We place the highest priority on the safety and security of our operations and as is routine for national security reasons, we do not disclose specific site security arrangements.
“Improved security awareness and a stronger reporting culture among personnel have led to an increase in reported incidents, regardless of their severity.”