"A shake-up of the government's defence science powerhouse at Porton Down has severely damaged morale and harmed work on critical science that supports national security, a senior whistleblower has told the Guardian. The whistleblower said they were raising concerns in the public interest that the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), based largely at Porton Down in Wiltshire, had been left in a paralysing limbo because of the changes."
"The organisation, which is an arm's-length body of the Ministry of Defence, is responsible for cutting-edge science and technology that aids the military and national security, working on incidents such as the Salisbury poisoning by Russian agents and countering the Covid pandemic. It has about 4,800 staff members. The Ministry of Defence did not dispute that morale has been affected by its organisational changes but stressed that there have been no redundancies as a result of the job deletions."
A senior whistleblower reports that a reorganisation at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down has severely damaged morale and harmed critical national security science. The programme deleted hundreds of jobs on paper and required staff to reapply for positions, leaving the organisation in a paralysing limbo. Staff morale and productivity declined, hampering scientific research and potentially jeopardising safety. DSTL, an arm's-length body of the Ministry of Defence with about 4,800 staff, handles cutting-edge military and national security science, including responses to the Salisbury poisoning and the Covid pandemic. The Ministry of Defence acknowledged morale impacts but said no redundancies occurred. Secure confidential contact methods were provided for anyone with further information.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]