Japan creates new intelligence council to counter Russia and China

Japan pushed ahead with a new intelligence command structure this spring, moving to place a National Intelligence Council under the prime minister and a National Intelligence Bureau beneath it as pressure from China, Russia and North Korea sharpened debate in Tokyo over how far to expand state power.

The cabinet approved the bill on March 13, 2026, and submitted it to the Diet the next day. The House of Representatives passed it on April 23, and the House of Councillors followed on May 27. The government said the two bodies could be established as early as July 2026, making the overhaul one of the fastest-moving security reforms in recent years.

Under the plan, the National Intelligence Council would be chaired by the prime minister, while the National Intelligence Bureau would serve as its secretariat and effectively upgrade the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. The bureau’s head is expected to hold a rank comparable to the secretary general of the National Security Secretariat, a signal that the government wants intelligence coordination to sit closer to the center of national security decision-making. The stated aim is to improve how Japan gathers, analyzes and shares information across ministries and agencies, while adding a medium- to long-term intelligence strategy to the system’s core functions.

The reform also reflects the structure it is meant to change. Japan’s postwar intelligence community has been divided among five core organizations: the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the National Police Agency and the Public Security Intelligence Agency. Japanese analysts have described the 2026 package as one of the most significant postwar overhauls of the country’s intelligence system, alongside earlier steps in 2008 and the 2013 state secrets protection law.

Supporters inside the governing camp say the change is overdue. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has framed it as a response to what she and other backers describe as Japan’s most severe and complex security environment since World War II, with nuclear-armed China, Russia and North Korea pressing on Japan’s perimeter and uncertainty over the future balance of U.S. power. A separate intelligence strategy approved by the Liberal Democratic Party in February 2026, together with a coalition agreement with Nippon Ishin no Kai, showed the issue had become a shared priority for the governing bloc.

The push also exposed the limits of consensus. Opposition lawmakers warned during Diet debate that the bill could infringe citizens’ privacy and lacked sufficient democratic oversight. That argument cuts to the heart of the reform: stronger coordination with Western intelligence systems on one side, and on the other the risk that a more centralized architecture could widen secrecy, blur accountability and erode long-standing restraints on state authority.