Japan’s Cabinet approved Friday a bill to establish a ministerial-level “national intelligence committee” as part of efforts to bolster the gathering of security-relevant information and better utilize it in policymaking.
The bill will also see the creation of a secretariat of the committee that would be vested with power to coordinate responses to foreign espionage.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a press conference that the bill is intended to strengthen the “control tower” functions of the government’s intelligence activities, which would help ensure “citizens’ safety and the national interest.”
He said Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government would submit the bill to parliament later in the day.
The government deems strict monitoring necessary due to difficulty in detecting coordinated foreign disinformation, but there are public fears over possible infringements on freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution.
Kihara, the top government spokesman, said that setting up the new body would not lead to an increased oversight of people and pledged to deliver a detailed explanation about the bill.
The committee, chaired by the prime minister and composed of nine other Cabinet members such as the chief Cabinet secretary, will be tasked with overseeing investigations into foreign intelligence activities to safeguard national security and prevent terrorism.
Among areas it will examine are suspected cases of foreign influence operations amid rising concerns about election interference via social media disinformation.
The bill states that the secretariat will “comprehensively coordinate” intelligence collected by the National Police Agency, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and other organizations, with the authority to ask them to share information.
Takaichi, who took office in October and is known for her conservative policy stance and hawkish security views, has vowed to beef up Japan’s intelligence capabilities by creating a national intelligence committee and enacting anti-espionage legislation to address growing risks.
