Aqua
04-20-2007, 11:51 AM
(gg)
>TOKYO (Reuters) - Three Japanese naval officers who
>swapped pornography on their computers triggered a
>scandal over a possible leak of sensitive data linked
>to Japan's missile defense system, a newspaper said
>Thursday.
>
>Police launched a probe last week after a navy officer
>married to a Chinese woman was found to have taken
>home a computer disk containing information about the
>high-tech Aegis radar system, domestic media said.
>
>Aegis is used on Japanese destroyers that are to be
>fitted with SM-3 missile interceptors from this year
>as part of the missile defense program.
>
>The officer told police he accidentally copied the
>confidential data onto his computer's hard disk when
>copying porn from a computer belonging to a crew
>member from another destroyer, the Yomiuri newspaper
>reported.
>
>A third officer was also found to have copied data on
>the Aegis system alongside pornographic images, the
>Yomiuri said.
>
>Police suspect senior officers were also involved in
>the swap because none of the three were authorized to
>access the confidential information, the Yomiuri said.
>
>Japan sped up the implementation of its missile
>defense program after North Korea fired a
>volley of ballistic missiles last year. Last Friday,
>its first ground-based interceptors were trucked into
>Iruma air base in Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo,
>to protect the capital.
>
>Any defense leak could potentially affect Japan's
>biggest ally, the United States, whose navy also uses
>the Aegis system.
>
>"I'm aware of the ongoing investigation," Bruce
>Wright, the commander of U.S. forces in Japan, told
>reporters.
>
>"We take operational security very seriously in the
>U.S. military. I know the Japan Self-Defense Forces
>also take operation security seriously."
>
>Spokesmen for the Defense Ministry and local police
>declined to comment on the investigation.
>TOKYO (Reuters) - Three Japanese naval officers who
>swapped pornography on their computers triggered a
>scandal over a possible leak of sensitive data linked
>to Japan's missile defense system, a newspaper said
>Thursday.
>
>Police launched a probe last week after a navy officer
>married to a Chinese woman was found to have taken
>home a computer disk containing information about the
>high-tech Aegis radar system, domestic media said.
>
>Aegis is used on Japanese destroyers that are to be
>fitted with SM-3 missile interceptors from this year
>as part of the missile defense program.
>
>The officer told police he accidentally copied the
>confidential data onto his computer's hard disk when
>copying porn from a computer belonging to a crew
>member from another destroyer, the Yomiuri newspaper
>reported.
>
>A third officer was also found to have copied data on
>the Aegis system alongside pornographic images, the
>Yomiuri said.
>
>Police suspect senior officers were also involved in
>the swap because none of the three were authorized to
>access the confidential information, the Yomiuri said.
>
>Japan sped up the implementation of its missile
>defense program after North Korea fired a
>volley of ballistic missiles last year. Last Friday,
>its first ground-based interceptors were trucked into
>Iruma air base in Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo,
>to protect the capital.
>
>Any defense leak could potentially affect Japan's
>biggest ally, the United States, whose navy also uses
>the Aegis system.
>
>"I'm aware of the ongoing investigation," Bruce
>Wright, the commander of U.S. forces in Japan, told
>reporters.
>
>"We take operational security very seriously in the
>U.S. military. I know the Japan Self-Defense Forces
>also take operation security seriously."
>
>Spokesmen for the Defense Ministry and local police
>declined to comment on the investigation.