Japan Investigates Online Posting of Obama Flight Plans

Interesting development between the two allies.

TOKYO — Japanese officials moved to control the diplomatic damage after an air traffic controller was questioned here for posting secret American flight information on his blog that included the detailed flight plans last November of Air Force One. The Transportation Ministry said Saturday that the controller, who works at the Tokyo International Airport at Haneda, could face charges of leaking national secrets. Japanese officials appeared embarrassed by the breach, which included flight data of an unmanned American military reconnaissance drone.

Tokyo is apparently worried that the episode could raise new doubts in Washington about Japan’s ability to handle sensitive information, following a scandal four years ago over the leak of American naval radar secrets. The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper, reported that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda may personally apologize to President Obama for the breach during a summit meeting later this month in New York.

www.nytimes.com...

Sounds like Japan will have to grovel once again to the Americans. I mean the leaking of sensitive data is not great but compared to American activity on Okinawa etc it is nothing.

Would the U.S. really stand by Japan against China if it came to it?

Pro tip: Stop making enemies, and stop acting such a big man.

reply to post by Peruvianmonk


Oh great so first they get nuked... twice... by the usa.
Then they get HAARPED so the whole country gets devastated by earthquakes... by the usa.
And now they have to apologize for leaking flight plans... TO the usa?

reply to post by NeoVain


Hmmm not sure whether they got 'HARRPED' or not, earthquakes do happen naturally you know.

Japan seems to be caught in a Catch-22 situation. The people at least, resent the American influence upon their politics, but know that they need the superpower to steam rise of China.