Japan Govt Submits Bill to Create National Intelligence Council

Tokyo, March 13 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government adopted a bill to create a national intelligence council at a cabinet meeting on Friday and then submitted the bill to the Diet.

The bill also calls for establishing a national intelligence bureau to serve as the secretariat of the council, which will be chaired by the prime minister.

The new bodies, which the government plans to establish as early as July, will formulate a medium- to long-term intelligence strategy by gathering and analyzing information from each ministry and agency.

The establishment of the council will mark the first step in Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's intelligence reform initiative.

After the launch of the council, the Takaichi administration will begin full-fledged discussions on the creation of a foreign intelligence agency and the enactment of anti-espionage legislation, both included in the coalition agreement between the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]