Japan’s Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, has set in motion plans to enhance the nation’s intelligence-gathering apparatus, ordering Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara to oversee the effort. Building on this initiative, members of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Renewal Society have now agreed to collaborate on drafting a proposal for a new, centralized national intelligence agency, a consensus formalized in a joint party statement.
Addressing reporters, Chief Cabinet Secretary Kihara confirmed that, under the agreement with the Japan Renewal Society, a bill to form the new intelligence organization will be submitted for consideration to the parliament during the upcoming 2026 session. He underscored the vital need to fortify intelligence capabilities to safeguard Japan’s national interests and ensure citizen security, citing a geopolitical situation he termed “the most challenging since the Second World War.”
Presently, Japan’s intelligence activities are dispersed across multiple ministries and agencies, including the Cabinet Secretariat, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry, the National Police Agency, and the Ministry of Justice. Information coordination is managed by the National Security Secretariat.
Confronted by this fragmented intelligence architecture and acknowledging the imperative for greater efficacy, the plan is to establish a dedicated intelligence body staffed by personnel drawn from the various existing units. The director of the proposed new agency would hold a rank on par with the Secretary of the National Security Council and would report directly to both the Prime Minister and the Chief Cabinet Secretary.