Japan Eyes New Defense Ministry Bureau to Boost International Security Cooperation

TOKYO – Plans for a new Defense Ministry bureau are being coordinated by the government and ruling parties. It will likely be responsible for international coordination, including defense cooperation and exchanges. The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. As Japan’s security environment grows increasingly severe, the move is intended to strengthen the ministry’s capacity to work more closely with allies and like-minded countries, thereby enhancing Japan’s defense capabilities. According to the sources from several government and ruling party officials, the government intends to include the proposal in its Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform, which is to be approved this month. As early as next year’s regular Diet session, the government may submit a bill to revise the Law for Establishment of the Defense Ministry, aiming to create the new bureau during the next fiscal year. If realized, it would be the first new bureau at the ministry since the Bureau of Policies for Regional Society was established in 2007. International coordination is currently handled by the Bureau of Defense Policy. But that bureau is already responsible for a wide range of duties, including the operation of the Self-Defense Forces as well as intelligence collection and analysis. By separating out international coordination, officials hope to ease its workload. In a proposal submitted in June to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the Liberal Democratic Party’s research commission on security pointed out that “the policy challenges the Defense Ministry must address have continued to increase, and the current structure is clearly insufficient.” The commission called for the creation of a new bureau. The total number of bureaus across central government ministries and agencies is capped at 97 under the National Government Organization Law. There current number is 94. Within the Defense Ministry, some officials have called for adding three bureaus, which would bring the total to the legal limit. Other proposals include creating bureaus related to the increasingly important field of cyber defense, logistics and transportation for the Self-Defense Forces, and the development of defense facilities. Behind the proposed expansion is the fact that staffing and organizational structures have not kept pace with the growing workload caused by changes in the security environment. As military threats from China, North Korea and Russia intensify, Japan faces an urgent need to strengthen cooperation with countries in Southeast Asia and Europe in order to maintain deterrence. ANN/The Yomiuri Shimbun