General News

Unprecedented 218 SDF Personnel Punished over Scandals; Members Accused of Mishandling Classified Information, Power Harassment

The Yomiuri Shimbun

18:13 JST, July 12, 2024

The Defense Ministry took disciplinary action against an unprecedented 218 Self Defense Forces members on Friday for various code violation, including disciplining 119 members of the Maritime Self-Defense Force for mishandling classified security information categorized as specially designated secrets.

The ministry also announced punishment for misconduct including power harassment by defense bureaucrats and improper receipt of allowances by MSDF divers.

“We have been completely lacking in fundamental attitudes, such as respect for the law, sense of ethics and strict discipline,” Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said at a press conference held after the Cabinet meeting Friday. “I will do my utmost to quickly rebuild the Defense Ministry and the SDF and restore the public’s trust.”

Kihara himself will give back a month’s salary.

MSDF Chief of Staff Ryo Sakai will take a one-month pay cut as a disciplinary measure and resign. Administrative Vice Defense Minister Kazuo Masuda; Gen. Yoshihide Yoshida, who is chief of staff of the Joint Staff; and chiefs of staff from the Ground Self-Defense Force and the Air-Self Defense Force were reprimanded for shirking their supervisory responsibilities.

Specially designated secrets are information required to be kept particularly secret for the purposes of defense, diplomacy, counterespionage and counterterrorism. Those who handle them must undergo a security clearance assessment, in which points such as their economic conditions and potential criminal history are investigated. As of the end of last year, 135,479 people were qualified, of which 122,459 were connected with the Defense Ministry. These rules were stipulated in the Law on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets, which came into effect in 2014.

The cases of misconduct by the ministry and the SDF announced Friday fell into four categories: mishandling of specially designated secrets; improperly receiving perks for diving missions; improperly receiving food and drink on an MSDF base; and abuse of subordinates by defense ministry bureaucrats.

A total of 58 cases of specially designated secrets being mishandled were uncovered: 45 by the MSDF, nine by the ASDF, two by the GSDF and one each by the Joint Staff Office and the Defense Intelligence Headquarters. The information has not been leaked outside the SDF, according to sources.

Within the MSDF, a series of cases were confirmed in which personnel who lacked the proper qualifications were on duty at combat information centers (CIC) — areas with computer screens displaying information such as ship wake — and on the bridges of 38 vessels.