Tokyo Report | Security | East Asia

Japan’s Intelligence Reform Has a Counterintelligence Problem

As the Takaichi administration strives to strengthen Japan’s intelligence capabilities, it’s important to build up counterintelligence capabilities too.

In order to deal with a worsening regional security environment, Japan is stepping up its intelligence capabilities. Since establishing the National Intelligence Council (NIC) this summer, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae acknowledged the threat caused by leaks of sensitive technology to foreign intelligence services. 

“We will continue discussions on ‘enhancing foreign intelligence collection’ and ‘strengthening the prevention of improper foreign influence’ while maintaining a balance with the people’s ‘liberty and human rights,’” she said at a recent press conference. 

As Japan continues its intelligence reforms, the government must also consider how to strengthen its counterintelligence capabilities. This will impact not only the development of a Japanese foreign intelligence service, but also Japanese aspirations to play a larger role in intelligence liaison relationships with friends and allies like the U.S. and its Five Eyes partnership. It is critical that Japanese policymakers strengthen Japan’s ability to defeat foreign espionage.

Counterintelligence is a critical part to the broader intelligence mission. According to James Olson, formerly the head of the CIA’s counterintelligence section, counterintelligence is “all the measures a nation takes to protect its citizens, secrets, and technology from foreign spies.” 

At first glance, this seems to primarily refer to the groups like Olson’s former organization at CIA or the counterintelligence section of the National Security Branch of the FBI. But counterintelligence also includes organizations like the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which provides oversight of business acquisitions between American and foreign companies. There is also the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), which investigates the suitability of a person to be granted access to classified information. Counterintelligence also includes counterespionage, which are activities used to penetrate, defeat, and manipulate foreign intelligence services. This creates an understanding of adversarial services, and create space for one’s own intelligence operations. What unites all of these activities and organizations is their ultimate objective being the defense of the state against foreign intelligence services.

Japan’s counterintelligence capabilities are minimal but like the broader intelligence community they have been getting stronger. Japan has two agencies that are broadly focused on countering foreign elements within Japan. The first is the National Police Agency (NPA), which is responsible for supervising the prefectural police forces in investigating criminal activity in Japan, including cyber crimes and terrorism. The second is the Public Security Intelligence Agency (PSIA), which also collects information on terrorist targets, which historically also included communist subversion. Together these are the main agencies responsible for protecting Japan’s domestic security.

Japan does not currently have a comprehensive anti-espionage law. The primary law that touches on counterintelligence is the Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets. Passed in December 2013, the law allows Japanese government agencies to limit access to information “which is publicly undisclosed and which is particularly required to be kept secret due to the risk of causing severe damage to Japan’s national security.” The law also says that unauthorized disclosure of covered information can result in incarceration up to ten years. 

To strengthen Japan’s counterintelligence regulations, the Takaichi administration supports passing a law requiring the registration of foreign agents in Japan. Like its counterparts in the United States, the law would strengthen Japanese counterintelligence through........

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