SINGAPORE — The world was recently rocked with leaks of classified US intelligence documents, and Singapore members of parliament Alex Yam of the People’s Action Party and Gerald Giam of the Workers’ Party filed parliamentary questions to the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) as they seek to know whether those leakages have any impact on Singapore national security.
Responding to the parliamentary questions, Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How said that no classified information from Singapore has been reported or detected thus far.
However, he noted that there were two pieces of information related to MINDEF in the leaked paper but these were not sensitive information, as they are readily available information in the public domain. That information is that the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) uses the SPYDER air defence system, and a British defence Singapore support unit located in Sembawang to provide support services to visiting vessels from Australia, New Zealand and Britain, or members of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA).
“The need to protect our secrets is a paramount and perennial preoccupation for MINDEF and the SAF. As the dictum goes, “loose lips sink ships” and even our country too, if the plans and capabilities of the SAF are compromised and our defences weakened. Guarding our secrets securely requires a systemic approach and layers of safeguards, both physical and virtual – something that all defence establishments and militaries put into place to prevent leaks of important and vital information. I will assume the members’ questions relate more to protecting information online and will not deal with protection of physical assets,” said Heng, Senior Minister of State for Defence in Parliament on Apr 21.
The US intelligence documents leak was first circulated online on Discord around March earlier this year. Those leaked papers contained documents from the US Department of Defence, including other secret services in the United States. The documents purportedly have information and insight into how the US gathers intelligence on other countries such as Iran, Israel, Haiti and the ongoing Russia / Ukraine conflict.
On Apr 13, US Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a statement that a suspect has been detained without any incident with regard to this case.
“Today (Apr 13), the Justice Department arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information. Teixeira is an employee of the United States Air Force National Guard. FBI agents took Texeira into custody earlier this afternoon without incident. He will have an initial appearance at the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts”, said US Attorney General Garland addressing the media.
Answering one of the questions by MP Yam of Marsiling – Yew Tee GRC on how the government reduce the risk that sensitive discussions or information is leaked or spied upon, SMS Heng said that at the highest level of security, highly classified information is stored in air-gap systems with only internal connectivity and strict protocols for access and monitoring.
“This keeps the information secure but there is always a trade-off which impacts on efficiency for the organisation. Apart from productivity, classified information needs to be shared when plans are reviewed or when dealing with quick cycle events, where information is needed expeditiously. All defence organisations face this conundrum through levels of classification, to balance protection and utility,” explained the senior minister of state.
Touching on WP’s Giam question on how the government ensure that information and intelligence that it shares with other countries is not compromised by those countries. SMS Heng added that when Singapore deals with its external partners, whether commercially or government-to-government, there are usually agreements for the protection and handling of classified information and mutual obligations to protect both parties’ classified information.
“But there is a limit despite these agreements in which MINDEF/SAF can control or compel standards of protection in their systems. Therefore, their security standards form an integral part of the assessment when MINDEF awards contracts. In some cases, companies with inadequate security standards have been dropped from consideration even when their products are superior and competitively priced,” said SMS Heng.