Secret military data leaked in porn-sharing

TOKYO - TOP-SECRET data on an advanced US military system was leaked because Japanese officers were swopping porn files at work, a newspaper reported yesterday.

The authorities are questioning a naval officer on charges that he obtained confidential data on the US-developed Aegis combat system, Tokyo's Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.

Police launched a probe last week after the 33-year-old 2nd-class petty officer was found to have taken home a computer disk containing data about the high-tech Aegis radar system.

Aegis is used on Japanese destroyers that are to be fitted with SM-3 missile interceptors from this year as part of a defence programme.

The officer told police he had 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 Shimbun 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 swop because none of the three was authorised to access the confidential information, the Yomiuri reported said.

The data found on the 33-year-old officer's computer included formulas for the Aegis interceptor system and data on its radar's capacity to track several targets at once, the Yomiuri said.

Any defence 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,' Commander Bruce Wright of US forces in Japan told reporters. 'We take operational security very seriously in the US military. I know the Japan Self-Defence Forces also take operation security seriously.'

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS