The air force yesterday said it would investigate a possible state security breach after photographs of a young woman in an F-16 jet cockpit at Hualien Air Force Base were posted online.
The photographs showing the woman and her friends posing with the F-16 were on Saturday night posted in a Facebook group for retro car lovers, sparking online controversy.
One of the images showed a young woman in the cockpit of the F-16, while another showed an air force technician surnamed Lin (林) and another person in front of the aircraft.
Although the images were taken down by the poster after users warned that they might be controversial, they were leaked to other social media sites.
Air Force Command Headquarters immediately launched an investigation and identified Lin as an air force sergeant who served with the Hualien-based 26th Tactical Fighter Group before he retired in 2013, the air force said.
A Hualien Air Base officer said that Lin had violated operational security regulations by allowing civilians to enter the facility and the cockpit, and to take photographs without authorization.
Although Lin has retired from the air force, he is still required to comply with certain military regulations, the officer said, adding that personnel involved in the affair would be disciplined.
The incident is not the first of its kind.
On March 29, 2015, then-601st Air Cavalry Brigade Lieutenant Colonel Lao Nai-cheng (勞乃成) brought a group of people, including TV personality Janet Lee (李蒨蓉) and her family and friends, to see US-manufactured Apache helicopters at his base in Taoyuan without approval from his superiors.
Some members of the group boarded an Apache and took photographs of the chopper. The case came to light after Lee on April 2 that year uploaded photos from her visit on Facebook, sparking public criticism of loose security in the nation’s military.
Several military officers were punished and Lao was suspended from duty for two years for violating provisions in the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍刑法) that prohibit leaking military secrets.
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