Lax Security Undermines MND’s Image at Home and Abroad

There is no way to ensure 100% protection against espionage, but many security breaches are avoidable  

It’s often said of the Taiwanese military that it leaks like a sieve, and that it is incapable of keeping secrets from whomever wants to access them. Although this characterization is perhaps a little unfair, security breaches in recent years have drawn attention to the nation’s poor safeguarding of classified information and undermined confidence in the Ministry of National Defense (MND). An embarrassing mishap exposed by a legislator earlier this week won’t do much to reassure. 

The extraordinary story goes as follows. At about 5pm on May 6, a woman surnamed Liang (梁), who identified herself as a contract worker for MND, approached the driver of a shuttle bus for military personnel on Changsha Street in Taipei and asked if she could be taken back to MND headquarters because her legs were sore from walking. According to Ministry spokesperson David Lo (羅紹和), the driver failed to ask the middle-aged woman to present any identification and drove her, along with other military personnel, inside the compound. 

My article, published today on Thinking Taiwan, continues here. (Photo by the author)