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By Tsukasa Arita
Wednesday, October 19, 2005 at 11:24 JST
TOKYO — Discussions are under way in Japan about whether to create a Japanese secret intelligence service along the lines of Britain's MI6 — commonly known from James Bond films — in charge of espionage activities overseas.
The deliberations were initiated by a proposal from an experts group sponsored by Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura for determining how to strengthen Japan's overseas information gathering functions.
The five-member group is headed by Yoshio Omori, a former chief of the Cabinet Information Research Office, and includes military critic Kensuke Ebata.
In September, the group came up with the proposal, which notes that the current system of acquiring information from overseas is inadequate, and "also considering the role our country plays in the international community, the system is not suitable."
In Japan, the Foreign Ministry, the Cabinet Information Research Office, the Defense Agency, the National Police Agency and the Public Security Investigation Agency each collect and analyze overseas information, but an official source said, "Among major countries only Japan has no overseas information-gathering organization."
Discussions about creating such a setup have not arisen because Japan has depended on the United States for obtaining intelligence under a bilateral security system.
In addition, the Japanese have a deep-rooted sense of resistance to intelligence agencies stemming from the country's experience of prewar special political police and spies.
The end of the Cold War, North Korea's nuclear programs, and the spread of terrorism across the world in recent years have demanded the Japanese government increasingly collect and examine information from abroad, but it lacks the required capacity.
In 1996 when the Japanese ambassador's official residence in Peru was attacked by armed guerrillas, Omori was head of the Cabinet Information Research Office. As a "shameful story," he said, "Nobody in Japan knew about the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement armed guerrillas, and the government had to ask the United States about them."
Britain's MI6 is placed under the country's foreign minister. Contrary to the flashy image conveyed by "007," it has no legal force and is said to merely handle information. But Omori describes the activities and scale of the U.S.'s intelligence service, the CIA, as beyond comparison.
Foreign Minister Machimura visited London in July and secretly met MI6 executives to exchange opinions on how intelligence agencies should operate, government sources said.
A government official in charge of overseas information analyses said, "People's suspicion that 'intelligence agencies' can become dangerous runs deep. That sense of alarm should be taken seriously."
Machimura said, "It will require time. But, one step at a time, we would like to steadily move ahead," indicating that understanding from the people is needed first.
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