Legislators yesterday demanded the Ministry of National Defense (MND) abolish its Military Security Brigade, after finding out that the unit planned and approved the operation that saw the military police’s warrantless search of a civilian’s house to seize three White Terror-era documents.
The incident, involving a man surnamed Wei (魏) who lives in New Taipei City, has stirred up a a political firestorm, becoming the main issue of debate at yesterday’s meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
A number of legislators accused Minister of Defense Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻) and other military officials of inconsistencies in their accounts of what took place, how many officers were involved, when and where Wei signed a consent form and who gave the order to contact Wei and trick him into a meeting by posing as buyers looking to purchase pu-erh tea.
Photo: CNA
Kao and MND Political Warfare Bureau Director Wen Chen-kuo (聞振國) confirmed that the Military Security Brigade, a military intelligence unit, held a meeting with the bureau’s Security Division, along with Department of Military Justice and Military Police officials on the afternoon of Feb. 19, prior to meeting with Wei and searching his house later that day.
Under questioning, Kao and Wen agreed with information obtained by legislators that Military Security Brigade officials headed up and coordinated the operation, approved the decisions, called Wei, instructed military police to support the operation and chose not to contact public prosecutors to obtain a search warrant.
New Power Party Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) called the Military Security Brigade “a dark, shadowy unit within the military,” because nowhere was it mentioned in the MND report as submitted by Kao to the committee yesterday.
Lim demanded its abolition, saying it had violated the rights of citizens, subverted the nation’s justice system and violated two international covenants signed by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in 2009.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said the decisions and actions taken by the Military Security Brigade resulted in the scandal, which has tarnished the reputation of the defense ministry.
Lo said he had information that indicated officials from the brigade initiated the actions against Wei to determine what documents he held, and that they were also present to monitor the military police searching Wei’s house for the documents.
“They were the ones who approved the actions without obtaining search warrants, because the military police officers did ask about this at the Feb. 19 afternoon meeting, but the matter was left at that,” Lo said.
Lo said the military police were ordered to provide support during the operation, but were made the scapegoat in the scandal, therefore he asked Kao to bear the political responsibility by naming the officials he said hid behind the scenes while ordering military police to carry out their dirty work.
DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) asked Kao to plug the leaks of current and historic materials from the military establishment and its intelligence agencies.
“There are many big holes to plug, since we are seeing so many valuable and sensitive documents in private hands being put up for sale,” Huang said.
“Some material might contain information on troop deployments, or personal files on high-ranking military officers. What if these are put up for auction on Web sites in China? What if the Chinese military gets hold of these documents? The defense ministry must take action to prevent this from happening,” Huang said.
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