Japan military school raided over Aegis data leak
Japanese police raided a military school in Hiroshima on Saturday as part of an investigation into the leak of confidential information about the Aegis missile defense system.Martyn Williams
Japanese police raided a military school in Hiroshima on Saturday as part of an investigation into the leak of confidential information about the Aegis missile defense system.
About 50 investigators from the Kanagawa prefectural police and Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) police visited the school and confiscated personal computers and storage devices, local media reported.
The leak, which prompted Japan's Defense Minister to apologize to his U.S. counterpart during a recent visit to Washington, D.C., concerned the radar and transmission frequencies of the Aegis system. It came to light in March when police searched the home of a JMSDF officer as part of an immigration investigation.
His possession of the data caused alarm because he is married to a foreign national. His wife is Chinese.
The officer told investigators that he accidentally copied the file while swapping pornography with another JMSDF officer, according to a report in the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper. Another officer was also found to have copied the data along with pornography, the report said.
The data has been traced back to an educational presentation file prepared for senior JMSDF members and first leaked out via a senior grade lieutenant, who told police he obtained it from a lieutenant commander, said Japan's Kyodo News Service. The lieutenant commander has denied the claim, the report said.
The leak has pushed the U.S. and Japan to work out stricter information security rules concerning military data that is shared with Japan under the Japan-U.S. Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement.
It has come at a bad time for Japan, which is currently pushing the U.S. to provide it information about the F-22A Raptor fighter jet because Japan is considering purchasing the advanced aircraft.
While the leak has proved embarrassing for Japan it could have been a lot worse. The JMSDF and other government agencies have previously lost data after employees have installed and run the Winny file-sharing program on government PCs.