Internal data such as information concerning U.S. military operations in Iraq have recently been leaked to the Internet from a privately owned personal computer of an Air Self-Defense Force member loaded with a file sharing software, ASDF investigations have shown.

The information on transport operations and personnel deployment of the U.S. military in Iraq in June and July was given as confidential data from the U.S. military and its leak could have posed a serious threat to the safety of foreign troops operating in Iraq. The ASDF said, "The situation has changed from the time then and it will therefore have no impact."

An analysis of the hard disk drive that included the information indicated the data were leaked on Friday, the investigations showed.

The issue was taken up at a parliamentary committee meeting Thursday. Defense Agency Director General Fumio Kyuma admitted that measures taken so far to stamp out leaks have been insufficient, saying, "Instructions were issued to delete official information and the person reported he deleted it but there were data left."

The Self-Defense Force has been embarrassed by a series of internal data leaks from privately owned PCs since the fall last year. The latest incident took place while the SDF was taking measures to stop such leaks.

Agency Vice Minister Takemasa Moriya said rigorous penalties will be served in the latest case.

The data also include security exercises at an ASDF base in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, the ASDF said.

The ASDF is obtaining such data from U.S. forces because it continues airlifting goods of multinational forces in Iraq even after Ground Self-Defense Force members withdrew from Iraq in July.

According to the ASDF, data were leaked from a PC owned by a first lieutenant who belongs to the Naha base of the ASDF. The officer was stationed in Qatar from March to August this year. Qatar hosts the U.S. military command for Iraqi reconstruction assistance operations, according to the Defense Agency.

The first lieutenant took a privately owned notebook PC there and used it in his official duties without authorization, the agency said.

After returning to Japan, the first lieutenant copied the information in question to an external hard disk drive, which he hooked up with another privately owned PC loaded with the file sharing software Winny apparently infected with a computer virus, according to the agency.

The leak drew the attention of Internet users who posted items about the data on a bulletin board, which prompted the ASDF to investigate the case.