An air traffic controller at Japan's biggest airport is in hot water after he posted Air Force One's flight plans for Obama's visit to Japan last November.
The Transportation Ministry said Saturday that the controller, who works at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, could face charges of leaking national secrets. Japanese officials appeared embarrassed by the breach, which also included the flight data of an American military reconnaissance drone.
The drone was a Global Hawk that has been taking readings near the Fukushima plant since the March 15 earthquake. Officials only learned about the breach when someone tipped them off on Monday.
Air Force One's flight plans are top secret, for obvious reasons. Yomiuri Shimbun reports that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will personally apologize to Obama when they meet in New York in a couple of weeks. In a major understatement, a Defense Ministry official called the leak "terrible." That doesn't even begin to describe it, given the implications.
The controller, a guy in his 50s, has worked at Haneda since 1981. He smuggled his cell phone into the control room and radar room--a violation of Japanese aviation regulations--and took at least 12 pictures, posting them to his blog a few days later. One aviation commentator called this a "lack of awareness" on his part. Gee, ya think?
Japanese aviation experts are on edge over this, fearing other countries won't trust Japan to safeguard classified information. Just four years ago, a Japanese naval officer copied data about the Aegis radar system to CD-ROMs and gave them to his friends.
One really has to wonder how this guy even still has a job. Here in the States, if I'm not mistaken this guy would have long since been fired and up on charges.