Long neglected, but critical to the success of Japan¡¯s defense modernization effort, is reform of the national intelligence infrastructure. National security requires not only the means to defend the nation but the intelligence to guide decision-making.
The government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is taking steps to improve that capability with passage of the National Intelligence Council Law. Opposition to the measure has been limited; to their credit, opposition parties understand the importance of this legislation and are focusing on genuine issues, not political grandstanding. Chief among them are safeguards to protect individual rights. They must be protected as intelligence reform proceeds.
Japan has debated for over four decades the need to update its intelligence infrastructure. In the 1980s, the government of then-Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone put forward legislation that would prohibit?collection?of ¡°state secrets¡± and sending that information to foreign countries. Opposition rallied around the prospect of violators receiving the death penalty, which was considered an infringement on freedom of speech and reminiscent of the dark days of World War II Japan. The bill was subsequently defeated.
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