People's trust in the operation of the Self-Defense Forces would be in question if it had intentionally concealed information concerning SDF troops deployed as peacekeepers in South Sudan. Media reports alleged that the Ground Self-Defense Force kept the daily activity logs of the Japanese peacekeepers — which the ministry insisted had been thrown away — and that the GSDF once tried to disclose the fact but was stopped by an official at the SDF Joint Staff. If Defense Minister Tomomi Inada had not been informed of the whole process, that would constitute a breach of civilian control of the SDF. The Abe administration must take the issue seriously and get to the bottom of the problem.

In October, a journalist requested that the Defense Ministry disclose the activity logs of the GSDF peacekeepers in South Sudan, where conflict between government and rebel forces has been intensifying since a large-scale fighting that killed more than 270 people in the capital of Juba last July. In early December, the ministry turned down the request saying that the logs had already been destroyed by the GSDF. But in a probe ordered by Inada and demanded by a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, the ministry found out later in the month that copies of the logs had been stored in the computer system of the SDF Joint Staff.

However, it wasn't until about a month later that Inada was informed of the fact — the Defense Ministry explained that it took time to determine which parts of the logs merits disclosure — and parts of the logs were disclosed in February. Inada continued to explain in the Diet that the GSDF itself was unable to find the logs. But it later turned out that the logs were in the possession of the GSDF after all. That was reported to GSDF Chief of Staff Toshiya Okabe, and the GSDF initially considered disclosing the fact, but was allegedly thwarted by a senior civilian bureaucrat on the SDF Joint Staff. If true, this would constitute an organized attempt to hide the information. If it had transpired without Inada's knowledge, her command of the SDF and the Defense Ministry would be in doubt.