Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at the Sept. 28 meeting of experts discussing strengthening of intelligence functions. (Takeshi Iwashita)

The government has set up an experts panel to strengthen intelligence functions.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration plans to compile a “National Intelligence Strategy” by year-end and is drawing up a calendar to submit legislation to next year’s ordinary Diet session to restrain spying.

To bolster command functions, the National Intelligence Council and National Intelligence Bureau were established in late July. Those moves were primarily for organizational reform.

The latest move will lead to strengthening of state functions so there are major concerns about invasion of privacy and greater monitoring of citizens.

Creating a framework for democratic control of the activities of intelligence agencies will be indispensable.

Takaichi attended the first meeting of the experts panel and said establishing the National Intelligence Council was only the first step in the reform process.

She called for strengthening measures to prevent inappropriate interference by foreign nations as well as further promoting intelligence functions abroad.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party in August compiled its recommendations that called for setting up a registration system for foreign agents lobbying within Japan.

The recommendations also include passing a new law to prevent foreign interference by imposing criminal penalties for such acts as supporting the activities of foreign intelligence agencies and receiving money from them. 

If the definitions and conditions for such measures are left vague, there is the concern that it could lead to arbitrary implementation by the government.

Strengthening intelligence activities can easily lead to monitoring of citizens.

Before World War II, the Peace Preservation Law was used to limit people’s freedoms and rights.

More recently, a Ground Self-Defense Force intelligence unit was found to have been collecting and storing extremely personal information as well as the ideological beliefs of experts.

During Diet deliberations on the bill to establish the National Intelligence Council, opposition parties called for engagement by the Diet, monitoring of the council by a third party and a framework for preserving records and conducting an after-the-fact assessment.

The government refused to take such arguments into consideration, but such a passive stance can no longer be allowed.

The LDP recommendations called for simultaneous establishment of measures to strengthen the activities of intelligence agencies as well as boosting monitoring of such agencies.

Work must push ahead quickly to design a specific system to meet that call.

Among the members of the experts panel are those supporting the strengthening of intelligence functions, legal scholars, lawyers as well as media representatives, such as the president of The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings.

We hope the panel will conduct discussions from the standpoint of citizens and make strict proposals to the government regarding democratic control, the government’s responsibility to explain its actions and information disclosure.

A summary of the minutes of the panel meetings, in principle, does not identify who made the comment, but is released after every meeting.

But because the panel will deal with such themes as freedom of speech and ideological beliefs that support democracy, the entire minutes should be released rather than just a summary to secure a maximum level of transparency.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 30

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