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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 12:54 p.m., Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Hawaii Army major gets prison time in misconduct case

By William Cole
Advertiser Staff Writer

An Army major assigned to Special Operations Command, Pacific, at Camp Smith was sentenced at a general court-martial in June to 12 months in prison after he illegally removed from the workplace classified material related to national security, an Army official said.

Under the terms of a plea agreement, Maj. Kendall M. Amazaki Jr. will serve 10 months' confinement and be dismissed from the Army, Maj. Stacy Bathrick said last week.

Amazaki removed the national security material from his government workplace at Fort Campbell, Ky., and took the material home without proper authorization and without reporting the activity to his superior officer, said Bathrick, a spokeswoman for the Camp Smith special operations command.

According to a summary provided by the Army, Amazaki took the materials with him when he was transferred to Camp Smith in 2002 and kept them at home in Hawai'i.

The government initiated an investigation in 2005 after becoming suspicious of his activities, the summary said.

In an e-mail responding to Advertiser questions about Amazaki's court-martial, Bathrick said Amazaki was charged with disobeying a lawful U.S. Army regulation, conduct unbecoming an officer and wrongful possession of classified material.

Amazaki also illegally possessed a diskette that contained pornographic material, according to the summary.

Amazaki could not be reached for comment.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.