Key takeaways
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi says Japan will draft its first national intelligence strategy, a step that could lead to a CIA-style foreign intelligence agency. She made the announcement at the first meeting of a 17-member expert panel on intelligence reform.
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Japan is taking another step away from its post-war intelligence posture. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has announced that her government will draft the country’s first national intelligence strategy — a plan that could ultimately lead to an external foreign intelligence agency along the lines of the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency. The announcement, made at the first meeting of a 17-member expert panel on intelligence capabilities, marks the second phase of Tokyo’s intelligence overhaul, which began with the launch of the National Intelligence Bureau in July.
What Takaichi announced
“We must strengthen our intelligence capabilities to ensure public safety and protect the national interest,” Takaichi said at the panel’s inaugural meeting, which was held on September 28. Before unveiling the strategy itself, she said, the government will issue directions for reforms across Japan’s intelligence sector.
The decision follows a proposal by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which has called for creating an external intelligence agency — a body that would gather intelligence abroad, something Japan currently has no institution to do. The 17-member expert panel, led by University of Tokyo professor emeritus Toshiya Watanabe, is expected to examine further reforms, including an anti-espionage law, before the strategy is finalised.
What the July agency already changed
Phase one of the overhaul took effect on July 31, 2026, when Japan’s fragmented Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office — about 700 staff with little authority — was upgraded into the National Intelligence Bureau. The bureau, directed by Kazuya Hara and staffed by roughly 730 people, is overseen by a newly created National Intelligence Council chaired by Takaichi and composed of senior ministers. Ministries and agencies, from defence to the police, are now formally required to share information through it.
Its remit covers counterterrorism, emergency response, and countering foreign intelligence — spy activity and covert influence operations. Japanese media report the next milestones are an anti-espionage bill for next year’s Diet session and a foreign intelligence agency by March 2028.
Why Japan is an outlier
Among major democracies, Japan has long been the anomaly. It has no foreign intelligence service and no anti-espionage law — weaknesses that have made allies reluctant to share sensitive material. A New York Times investigation in July detailed how Russia exploited those gaps to obtain Japanese components used in missiles and drones.
Since taking office in October 2025, Takaichi has championed stronger defence, and her party’s landslide snap-election victory this February gave her the parliamentary supermajority to legislate. Her administration has reportedly sought advice on intelligence reform from Western partners, including the United States, Australia and Germany.
The controversy at home
The reform has critics. When the bill establishing the bureau went through parliament in May, more than 200 people protested in Tokyo, and opposition lawmakers raised concerns about privacy, personal data, and the lack of democratic checks on the new body’s expanded authority.
Panel members have urged public and international consultation before Japan proceeds — a reminder that building a CIA-style agency in a post-war pacifist state will be politically delicate as well as strategically significant.
This is a developing story. Updates will follow as the expert panel publishes its recommendations.
Sources
- “Japan forms first national intelligence agency, eyes its own CIA” — The Hindu, Oct 1, 2026
- “Japan is launching its first centralized intelligence agency since WWII. Here’s why” — CNN, July 30, 2026
- “Japan’s creation of centralized intelligence agency raises concerns over accelerated military expansion” — Xinhua, Aug 2, 2026
- “Japan builds first centralised intelligence agency since WWII, why now?” — WION Decodes
