Japan's launch of a new centralized intelligence agency marks a deliberate departure from the country's post-war decentralized system and raises concerns among regional neighbors, an Australian scholar of international affairs has said.
The bureau's launch is the country's biggest overhaul of its intelligence system since World War II. Unlike previous intelligence organizations, the new bureau reports directly to the prime minister.
Warwick Powell, adjunct professor at Queensland University of Technology, said in an interview with China Media Group that the international community should view the development in light of Japan's previous commitments to refrain from militarization.
"What we're witnessing here is anything but a modernization. What we are seeing, in fact, is a deliberate attempt by the new Japanese government to dismantle post-war constraints. Let's not forget that the decentralized intelligence system that Japan operated since 1945 was a conscious choice. And it was made so as to prevent the concentration of secret power that ultimately enabled militarism. So the centralizing of this intelligence authority under the Prime Minister's Office, in effect, reverses what has been an important historical safeguard," he said.
Powell warned that the move is likely to cause concern among Japan's neighbors.
"Now, if you're a neighbor within the region, especially one that has experienced Japanese invasion, violence, terror and occupation before, I think that there is every reason to be concerned that this is more than a simple administrative reform," said the professor.
"We are going to need to watch this very, very closely. But I think that that is the historical context which gives plenty of reason for there to be concern across the entire region," Powell said.
Japan launched its new intelligence agency system on Friday, July 31. The numbers that make up the date are reminiscent of Unit 731, a Japanese biological warfare unit that engaged in live human experiments on Chinese civilians and prisoners of war decades ago.
The establishment of the national intelligence bureau, an upgrade from the Cabinet intelligence and research office, follows legislation enacted in May to create the national intelligence council, according to local media.
The bureau serves as the secretariat for the council, a central command body headed by the prime minister and composed of top ministers, and will coordinate intelligence gathering by the National Police Agency, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and other organizations, with the authority to require them to share information.
Japan's new centralized intelligence body raises regional concerns: expert
