Japan establishes National Intelligence Bureau to boost counter-espionage efforts

On Friday, Japan launched its National Intelligence Bureau, a move announced by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration to reinforce the country’s intelligence architecture and set the stage for counter-espionage laws. The bureau’s formation follows a May statute that also established a National Security Council, comprising the prime minister and nine cabinet ministers, which is slated to meet later that day to discuss Japan’s first national intelligence strategy.

Acting as the council’s secretariat, the new agency will coordinate information from the National Police Agency, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and other entities, with authority to require data sharing. It inherits roughly 730 staff from the former Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, and Kazuya Hara, who previously led that office and held senior police positions, was named director. The government plans to convene an expert panel by autumn to craft counter-espionage legislation for the next Diet session, covering measures such as foreign-agent registration, creation of a domestic foreign-intelligence service, penalties for foreign influence operations, and expanded communications interception. Opposition legislators have expressed concerns over the bodies’ political neutrality and potential privacy infringements.