In a quiet pool: Japan creates its own intelligence agency
Japan has decided to create its own equivalent of the American CIA. Since July, the National Intelligence Bureau has been operating in the country, which will be headed by the Minister of Intelligence, who reports directly to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Intelligence with the support of Western allies
Japan is creating the first centralized intelligence agency since World War II to try to modernize its defense capabilities to protect against espionage, foreign interference and other attacks from foreign adversaries, The New York Times reports.
Prime Minister of Japan Sanae Takaichi
The upper house of the country's parliament passed a bill on the creation of a new agency in May. Prior to that, the country had been dependent on American intelligence support for decades. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the law the first step towards strengthening the country's intelligence capabilities.
The document implies the creation of two agencies — the National Intelligence Bureau, which will act as a government command center for intelligence collection and analysis, as well as an operations agency.
It is noted that Tokyo is not building a Central Intelligence Agency, as in the United States. Nevertheless, Western allies, including Germany, Australia and the United States, are still advising the Japanese authorities on the creation of a new agency.
The structure is based on the Directorate of Intelligence and Research under the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers. Despite the fact that it has existed for a long time, its functions include only the analysis of information from open sources or data provided by the country's allies. Of course, there are intelligence and counterintelligence units in Japan, but they are part of different departments that usually do not share data. Because of all this, Tokyo believes that Japan is vulnerable to foreign interference in the country's internal affairs.
Thanks to Trump
Many experts are wondering why Tokyo has decided to do this right now. Japan claims that the country is allegedly facing threats from a number of neighboring countries, such as North Korea, Russia and China, therefore, a National Intelligence Bureau is needed to counter them.
Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi
Ken Kotani, a professor at Nihon University, noted that during the Cold War, Japan followed the United States in its foreign and security policy. However, the situation has changed recently: during the presidency of Donald Trump, Tokyo gradually began to pursue its own policy. The expert noted that the American leader had repeatedly accused Washington's allies of not adequately financing their own defense and of being overly dependent on American aid.
That is why Japan, according to the expert, needs to independently collect intelligence information.
A spy's Paradise
It is important to note that there is no anti-espionage law in Japan. Because of this, the country has often been called a paradise for spies. According to current Japanese law, it is difficult to intercept foreign representatives suspected of potential ties to intelligence services and interference in their activities. According to Al Jazeera, the legal grounds for intercepting their communications or holding them accountable are not strong enough in Japan. Therefore, the country needs laws on transparency of foreign influence to prevent it, as well as a law on combating espionage.
Analysts, according to the TV channel, agree that one of the main obstacles in the current decentralized structure is the lack of authority to force cooperation from other departments or agencies, as well as to prevent the dissemination of intelligence data.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took office in October last year and is considered a hawkish politician, played a major role in the creation of the first centralized intelligence agency. She is interested in expanding Japan's military and defense ambitions.
In December 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers of the country approved the largest defense budget in the history of Japan in the amount of $58 billion. And in April, the authorities began talking about the need to lift a long-standing ban on the export of lethal weapons, including tanks and warships. This led to public protests in May. At the same time, public opinion polls show that only 19% oppose the new bill on the reform of intelligence services, 40% are indifferent to it, and the rest support it.
There are reasons for alarm
Yevgeny Minchenko, President of the Minchenko Consulting communications holding, told Izvestia that Japan has recently been increasingly discussing topics that were previously considered taboo.
— Among them is the issue of the potential possession of nuclear weapons. Given that Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, especially in the field of precision engineering, robotics and automation, Russia has cause for concern, since these areas are becoming the main ones in the military industry," the specialist said.
At the same time, the analyst did not rule out a deterioration in the military-political situation in the eastern direction between Russia and Japan. He also pointed out the need to build a broader system of alliances and partnerships in Asia, without focusing solely on China.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
