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Japanese officer arrested in alleged Aegis leak

TOKYO — Police arrested a Japanese naval officer Thursday for allegedly leaking sensitive defense technology that the U.S. had shared with Japan, officials said.

Sumitaka Matsuuchi, a 34-year-old lieutenant commander in the Maritime Self-Defense Force, was arrested for allegedly leaking the classified data to an instructor at a Japanese naval academy in violation of a Japan-U.S. security pact, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The data involves U.S.-developed technology for the Aegis radar systems used on several Japanese destroyers and U.S. warships carrying missile interceptors. The case surfaced in March when police found the information on a computer disk in an unrelated investigation.

The scandal has embarrassed Japanese defense officials at a time when Tokyo and Washington have been accelerating their joint missile defense system to counter North Korea’s testing of missiles and a nuclear device.

Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said “the case affects the foundation of the Japan-U.S. alliance, and I find it extremely regrettable.”

Investigators allege Matsuuchi, based in Yokohama, near Tokyo, leaked the classified data in August 2002 by sending the disk to an instructor at a naval academy in the western city of Etajima, the ministry said.

The instructor then reportedly illegally copied the disk and circulated it among dozens of academy students and teachers.

Police found one of the disks in March at the home of a Japanese naval officer during an immigration investigation involving his Chinese wife.

The case “was an example that not only the Defense Ministry but the Japanese government as a whole lacked awareness on intelligence issues,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said at a news conference Thursday. “We must thoroughly study how to improve our intelligence.”