A series of incidents — including the theft of an M16 in 2014 and numerous attempts to board civilian aircraft carrying live ammunition this year — have raised concerns the U.S. military on Okinawa is failing to securely manage its weapons in the prefecture.
Documents obtained from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act reveal how a marine, believed to be a chief warrant officer three (third rank), stole an automatic rifle and bullets, barricaded himself within his home and threatened to kill himself and possibly a fellow service member.
The documents catalog a series of security failures that enabled the marine to commit the act, such as errors at the armory and suggestions that past mental problems had been ignored by senior officers. The perpetrator received a relatively light punishment for his actions: a written warning and a pay cut.
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