Soldier indicted for stealing top secret Iran files

Young woman in IDF said to have taken home about 600 documents on USB key, including documents with data on Iranian nuclear program.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
311_female soldier in trouble (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
311_female soldier in trouble
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
A female soldier from the IDF’s Computer Unit was indicted in recent days by a military court for allegedly stealing a USB computer flash drive containing classified, sensitive information – including data on Iran’s nuclear program – from a National Security Council facility in the central region.
The soldier, who was charged in the Southern Command Military Court in Kastina, near Kiryat Malachi, is accused of removing the disk-on-key, which reportedly contained around 600 documents, 45 of which were marked top secret, and driving to her home in the South with the information.
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Hours after the USB drive went missing, officials realized it had been taken, according to a Ynet report, and on that same evening, state representatives appeared at the soldier’s home to retrieve the data.
Security officials detained the soldier for questioning and seized her computer and cellphone.
She told her questioners her intention had been to expose a security lapse, since it was against orders for classified information to be stored on a disk-on-key. The soldier said she had intended to give the memory stick to her commanding officer, and denied planning to make the information available to hostile elements.
Her claim was deemed insufficient by military prosecutors to explain her actions, although prosecutors said there is no evidence that she copied the information or transferred it to a third party.
The IDF Spokesman’s Office said on Sunday that the soldier was indicted recently on one count of straying from her duties to the point of endangering national security.
“As this is an ongoing judicial process we are unable to comment further,” the office said.
The soldier’s trial is expected to begin soon.
The National Security Council operates under the Prime Minister’s Office, and is tasked with advising the premier and government ministers.