Foreign spouses ‘a danger to national security’
Bruce Wright, the commander of U.S. forces in Japan, said at a news conference in Tokyo earlier this month that “the leak of data on the [Aegis] missile defense system Japan shares with Washington is a “serious problem,” and both nations must work together to improve security”.
And by golly Japan is going to take action. So what’s the policy going forward? Are they going to insist that officers are a bit more careful about how they swap their digital pornography? Are they going to check that no one in the MSDF’s using Winny on their computer?
No. According to the Sankei Shimbun –
The Maritime Self-Defence Force plans to gradually transfer from August some 10 officers who are married to non-Japanese nationals and who have access to high-level military secrets.
The Mainichi went further, quoting an unnamed ’senior official’ who said -
The move [to transfer MSDF members with foreign spouses] was intended to reduce the possibility of information being leaked to other countries. High-ranking MSDF staff members decided on the move, and reported the plans to Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma.
A little concerned this could be seen as discrimination in the workplace?
Addressing such fears, ministry officials reportedly decided to move people with foreign spouses during regular personnel reshuffling, and avoid directly stating the reason as being that they have foreign spouses.
Poor Mari….she’s my favorite. If I ever become a j-pop singer and part of the...
Shes definitely at the top of my hot list.
perfeckt 10:10
It still won’t stop them from trading porn.
Maybe Kim Jongil will consider sending some sleeper agents to trade some Aki Hoshino pictures with the hope they get the entire blueprints to the F-2 by accident
June 29th, 2007 at 12:32 pmDoesn’t the US already do something similar? I’m sure I remember reading something about it, somewhere.
June 29th, 2007 at 12:55 pmI don’t know if it still holds true, but I do know that this was the rule back when I was in the Army Security Agency (Army branch of the NSA).
At that time, anyone marrying a foreign national was immediately stripped of their security clearance and transferred to some clerical job that did not involve handling of sensitive information.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:05 pmHey Overthinker, what difference does it make whether the US does it or not?
The root of the problem is that the Japanese SDF is not properly training their personnel in the handling of information, whether it be Top Secret, Secret or Unclassified.
What’s sad is that this is not the first time that this has happened. A few years back, the there was data leaked thru the use of Winny and the SDF released sensitive signal intelligence, as well as locations of transmission complexes used not only by Japanese, but all of the allied forces in this theater.
They aren’t doing enough to counter the loss of intelligence, and they will continue to endanger the lives of people serving in the Military, as well as us civilians, if god forbid, someone like Kim Jong Ill-in-the-Head or Al-Qaeda attacks us.
June 29th, 2007 at 3:11 pm“The root of the problem is that the Japanese SDF is not properly training their personnel in the handling of information, whether it be Top Secret, Secret or Unclassified.”
Exactly. Those critics were mentioned each time by some military or intelligence experts, when the leak of data occurred.
June 29th, 2007 at 5:20 pmAnd the worst part about it is, not only might foreign wives leak your naval secrets, they might make your kids stink, too:
http://www.debito.org/index.php/?p=458
So, if you’re kids smell and the Filipino Navy starts launching Aegis destroyers, don’t say you weren’t warned.
June 29th, 2007 at 6:14 pm“..some clerical job” well from my experience that is precisely where the leaks originate – instead of shredding those all so “sensitive” documents (ha!ha!) it’s all delegated to a go-fer.The whole system buckles under it’s own foggy idea of it’s own self-importance.
I’ve found the most extraordinary information just laying around.
Bomber Replenishment Area’s (BRA’s) – Fighter Replenishment Area’s (FRA’s) – Staging Flight Details,
Guam…Stocking request’s for Andrew’s AFB…etc,etc.
(want more? go look.
JP – my comment is made with best intent – WE seem to be our own worst enemy (military/defence wise).
remora.
June 29th, 2007 at 8:37 pmNo problem, Rem. When I said “clerical work” I was referring to things like personnel and supply, where they do not have any access to classified information.
June 29th, 2007 at 9:54 pmThe difference it makes, Go55man, is that without some form of comparison to how other countries handle things, Japan is by default compared to our own assumptions, which may not be at all accurate. Here for example is an article ripe for using as a “Japan is increasingly insular/xenophobic” slant, but is that really the case? How can we measure how xenophobic Japan is without something to measure it against?
June 29th, 2007 at 11:50 pmIt just amazes me that ANY countries military solution to information leaks could be to remove officers who are married to people from a foreign country. As I’ve read in this thread already; you need to train those who handle sensitive material. If you have a leak, do some research, find it and remove it. When in recorded history, has a lazy solution as ‘Well it could be something like this….maybe’ proven helpful? Less man-power = money saved?
June 30th, 2007 at 3:39 amIf someone were to try to use this specific instance to draw a point about Japan generally, they may find themselves open to the very accusation they’re levelling against others. They may also find their comment being heavily moderated.
The point of the article is to highlight what I felt to be a belated and wrongheaded course of action chosen by the military, nothing to do with the country in general, which would be illogical. (Any notion of discrimination is first brought up by the MSDF themselves (which sufficiently worried them that it prompted a hush-up), as you’ll not from the article, not by commenters here.)
June 30th, 2007 at 8:35 amWhich is why I said “ripe for” using, not “is being used as”. It’s an issue that CAN be made into a “Japan in racist/xenophobic” stance, which is why we need to be careful when dealing with such news items.
June 30th, 2007 at 10:10 am