The navy is investigating a captain who allegedly collected data from the Han Kuang exercises and told staff to bypass budget audits, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday.
Koo made the remarks at an open meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Legislators Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) and Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) expressed concern over reports that the captain, surnamed Lin (林), who directs the navy’s Meteorological and Oceanographic Office, had illegally collected operational data from the Han Kuang exercises in July.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA
Lin allegedly instructed his subordinates to establish a battle situation center and request classified information from frontline squadrons. He also allegedly told personnel to circumvent audit oversight on budget allocations, telling them to deceive auditors if possible.
The Navy Command said that a preliminary investigation showed that Lin might have contravened the Cyber Security Management Act (資通安全管理法), but he did not leak information related to the Han Kuang exercises.
The investigation showed that Lin created an online chat group on Oct. 24, 2023, to facilitate discussions over marine weather information, it said.
The chat group was deleted on April 3 last year for security reasons, it added.
“Comparing the time that the chat group was created and the time when the exercises were held, the content discussed in the chat group was not about the details of the exercises. However, we would look further into the part that might have contravene cybersecurity regulations,” the Navy Command said.
Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chiu Chun-jung (邱俊榮) said that information relevant to the case still needs to be clarified, such as reports that cite budget allocation timelines that differ from the facts.
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