The restructuring of Japan’s intelligence capability around new central agencies will support deeper cooperation with Australia. This sentiment was outlined in a joint statement during Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s visit to Australia in May. This is a priority area for both countries as they deepen their special strategic partnership to manage a worsening regional security outlook.
In May, the Japanese Diet approved legislation to establish a National Intelligence Council, chaired by the prime minister, to direct Japan’s intelligence mission. The law also establishes a National Intelligence Agency (sometimes translated as National Intelligence Bureau), which will serve as the council’s secretariat and replace the current Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. The agency could be up and running as soon as this month with around 700 inaugural staff, making it the same size as the current intelligence and research office.
The new centralised structure should deliver more integrated and effective intelligence. The Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Police Agency and Public Security Intelligence Agency will retain their intelligence functions. But it is hoped that the new council and agency can address bureaucratic turf wars between the main intelligence collection agencies better than the old structure could. The new peak bodies can also direct the alignment of intelligence standards between Japan and its international partners.
There are more reforms coming. Tokyo is expected to unveil its first ever National Intelligence Strategy by the end of this year. This will be separate from the National Security Strategy, which will also be updated. Later this year, an expert panel may consider options for an anti-spy law, which could expand criminal penalties for corporate and research espionage beyond the limited powers set out in Japan’s 2022 Economic Security Promotion Act.
Most eye-catchingly, the government is also considering establishing a new institution for the covert collection of human intelligence by March 2027, tentatively called the Foreign Intelligence Agency. This agency’s operations may include officers with assumed identities, drawing comparisons to the tradecraft of foreign intelligence services in peer democracies such as the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, the US’s CIA and Britain’s MI6.
This government’s agenda builds on years of gradual revisions to Japan’s intelligence structures and regulations, as well as growing public awareness of the contribution intelligence has made to Japan’s statecraft. For example, intelligence work contributed to the 2002 return of some of the Japanese citizens who had been abducted by North Korea. Another milestone was the Specially Designated Secrets Act, which came into force in December 2014. This act helped assure the United States, Australia and other partners that they could share intelligence with Japan securely.
The progress to date has come from political vision, backed by the expertise and networks of key officials. An important figure outside the political limelight has been Shigeru Kitamura, a former police bureaucrat and senior intelligence official who is now retired from public service and working as a consultant. He advised former prime minister Shinzo Abe and other Japanese prime ministers during the development and implementation of the act and other intelligence policymaking.
Kitamura coined analogies to raise Japanese literacy about intelligence. He likened intelligence sharing to the flow of juice, which was precious and only possible if the countries involved were confident that each had legally and technically sturdy cups to store the juice securely. The fact that several foreign governments have awarded honours to Kitamura attests to the impact of his work. In 2022, he became the first non-Australian to receive the Australian Intelligence Medal.
Takaichi’s resounding general election victory in February provided a mandate for the government’s intelligence reform agenda. The agenda was stipulated in last October’s coalition agreement between the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which Takaichi leads, and the Japan Innovation Party.
But significant challenges remain. Domestically, the opposition parties in the Diet want stronger safeguards for the public’s right to know what their government is doing. Abroad, however, Japan is facing a concerted disinformation campaign, partly directed by Beijing, which misrepresents Takaichi’s intelligence reforms as a reversion to imperial-era militarism. Domestic considerations will probably shape Takaichi’s decision-making more than foreign reactions, but it’s still important to push back on Beijing’s false narratives.
A delicate policy balance is required. That policy should ensure transparency and oversight while also providing Japan’s intelligence agencies with the powers and resources to protect the nation and persuade international partners that intelligence cooperation is worthwhile. Encouragingly, the US is already leaning in, as comments by FBI Director Kash Patel show.
The international engagement strategy has been driven from the top by Takaichi and her Cabinet. During her visit to Australia, she and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recalled the commitments to intelligence sharing in bilateral mechanisms, such as a continued convening of regular foreign and defence ministerial consultations. Australia’s ambassador-designate to Japan, Andrew Shearer, who previously led Australia’s Office of National Intelligence, is also playing a conspicuous role. He has already had consultations with the LDP’s headquarters for intelligence strategy, helping to develop intelligence policy. A closer Japan–Australia intelligence partnership, as outlined in a June report by ASPI and Japan Nexus Intelligence, would serve to reinforce the growing strategic alignment between Tokyo, Canberra and a wider global network in responding to an increasingly contested security environment.
All this engagement will stimulate commentary about Japan’s alignment with the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group. However, there is no evidence that membership is on the agenda or needed in any practical sense given the strength of existing cooperation. For now, Tokyo is likely to be more interested in learning from each Five Eyes member’s experience in developing world-class intelligence services, the effectiveness and social licence of which are anchored in law. Australia is front and centre in this regard, as evidenced by laws such as the Office of National Intelligence Act 2018 and Intelligence Services Act 2001. Australia’s intelligence community has a fascinating story to tell, and there’s never been a better time for Japan to hear it.
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