AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies
IIPSRIPSInstitute for International

The Japan Institute ofResearch Institute for

Policy Studies

International Affairs

Peace and Security

Editorial Advisory Board:

No. 199

Akio Watanabe (Chair)
Masashi Nishihara
Yoshiji Nogami
Taizo Yakushiji

17 June 2013

Editorial Committee:

THE ROLE OF JAPAN’S NATIONALSECURITY COUNCIL

Taizo Yakushiji
Hisayoshi Ina
Tsutomu Kikuchi
Shujiro Urata andToshiro Iijima
Editor & Online Publisher:

Yuichi Hosoya

Yoshji Nogami
President, JIIA

In 2013 Shinzo Abe’s administration presented theDiet with a bill to revise the National SecurityCouncil (NSC) Establishment Act (officially titledthe “Bill for the Partial Amendment of the Act for
Establishment of the Security Council of Japan andOther Acts”), and the bill was passed into law byboth the House of Representatives and the Houseof Councilors in November. Accordingly, Japan’s
National Security Council was created on
December 4, with the expectation that it will serve
as a “control tower” enabling the government toadopt a more comprehensive approach inaddressing various security issues.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and should
not be attributed to The Association of Japanese Institutes ofStrategic Studies.

AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

Until then, inter-ministerial rivalries had been so notorious that theJapanese government could not make important political decisions. As current
security problems cannot be solved by any single ministry, it has been
repeatedly pointed out that a Japanese version of the US' National Security
Council was needed. Though this NSC, it is expected that the ministries
concerned can more effectively collaborate with one another to tackle difficult
security issues.
The National Security Secretariat was established on January 7, with
Shotaro Yachi, Special Advisor to the Cabinet and Prime Minister Abe's
diplomatic strategist, named the Secretary General of the NSS and National
Security Advisor. Appointed as Deputy Secretary Generals were Assistant
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobukatsu Kanehara from the Ministry ofForeign Affairs and Assistant Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobushige
Takamizawa from the Ministry of Defense, giving the National Security Bureau astrong lineup from the start. The scale of the secretariat is likely to grow as its
initial staff of 67 is steadily increased.
Japan's NSC comprises two organizations. The first is the National
Security Council, a consultation forum for relevant ministers. At the heart of theCouncil are the core "Four Ministers' Group" (the Prime Minister, the Chief
Cabinet Secretary, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defense)
and the broader "Nine Ministers' Group" (including the Deputy Prime Minister,theMinisterofPublicManagement,

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andTelecommunications, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Economy, Tradeand Industry, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation, and theChairman of the National Public Safety Commission). The second organizationis the National Security Secretariat, organized into six teams? the Coordination
Team, Policy Team No.1, Policy Team No.2, Policy Team No.3, the Strategic
Planning Team, and the Intelligence Team? under the Secretary General, thetwo Deputy Secretary Generals and three Councilors. The Secretariat is staffedprimarily by personnel seconded from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and theMinistry of Defense, and private-sector hires beyond the two personnel currently
on staff are expected to increase in future.

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AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

What is the NSC's current status approximately six months since its start?
East Asia is regarded as one of the most concerning regions worldwide, plagued
as it is with frequent crises. Even as the NSC Establishment Bill was being
discussed in the Diet, regional tensions heightened temporarily following China's
unilateral declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIX) in the East
China Sea. The National Security Council was established on December 4, andon the agenda for the first meeting of the Four Ministers' Group were issues
pertaining to this ADIZ. Reports in that same month that Kim Jong-un's uncle
Jang Sung-taek, considered second only to the Supreme Leader as Vice
Chairman of North Korea's National Defense Commission, had fallen out of favorand been sentenced to death and executed led to a greater sense of uncertainty
about circumstances in North Korea. There is great significance in being able todiscuss such major security concerns relevant to multiple ministries/agencies
within the NSC's Four Ministers' Group. Meeting every other week or so, thisGroup offers briefings for the prime minister and other relevant cabinet officials
on intelligence submitted by multiple ministries/agencies that allow them to gain
an even deeper understanding of urgent security issues.
How is the NSC functioning now after nearly six months in operation? On
May 15, 2014, the Advisory Panel on Reconstruction of the Legal Basis for
Security submitted a report offering recommendations on such issues as thosesurrounding the exercise of the right of collective defense, and the NSC served
as the secretariat for the discussions on these issues. As these issues concern
both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense, it is of greatsignificance that they were examined across ministries/agencies within thecontext of the NSC. With government officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
the Ministry of Defense and other organs working on the same teams on a
day-to-day basis, it is quite probable that a perspective will be fostered within thegovernment that focuses on national interests and national security rather than
the interests of individual ministries/agencies. In addition, government officials
returning to their respective ministries/agencies and assuming high-ranking
positions after a stint in the NSC can be expected to be able to examine policies
from a more comprehensive standpoint.

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AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

It is often said that Japan does not have any long-term national strategy.
This has been largely true. Prime ministers have been too weak to lead thewhole government as their personal staffs are just a handful of bureaucrats
temporarily seconded to the Prime Minister's Office. Nevertheless, with theestablishment of Japan's NSC, it now can be expected that personnel working inthe Secretariat will adopt a long-term strategic perspective. Furthermore, theprime minister and other relevant ministers will regularly receive essential
briefings from the Secretariat. This will enhance their understanding ofcomplicated security issues.
However, a long time will be needed for an organizational culture todevelop. The US' NSC organization took many decades of trial-and-error tosecure an unshakable status within the government. In this sense, Japan's own
NSC must also be evaluated over an extended period of ten to twenty years, andthere are concerns that it could become a mere facade if future administrations
and prime ministers do not recognize the importance of utilizing the NSC.
Whether the NSC will be able to establish a firm position within Japan's security
policy-making framework is thus an unknown quantity at present.
That said, the creation of the NSC would seem to offer an opportunity toestablish a new perspective incorporating a "whole of government approach"and long-term strategic planning, a perspective that has been sorely lacking inJapanese organizational culture. The NSC should help alleviate the intensedisputes that have arisen between ministries/agencies, prompt re-examinationsof crisis-response security policies, and encourage the establishment of morestrategic and more comprehensive security policies.

Yuichi Hosoya is a professor of international politics at the Faculty of Law, Keio
University, and he is also a member of Prime Minister’s Advisory Panel on theReconstruction of Legal Basis for Security.

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