On July 31 local time Japan formally established a National Intelligence Agency. The inaugural director is Hara Kazuya, who previously headed the National Police Agency’s Foreign Affairs Division, served as director general of the Security Bureau, and has been Cabinet intelligence officer since 2023. Under a law passed earlier by the Diet, Japan will build an intelligence architecture centered on a National Security Council with the National Intelligence Agency as the executive body. The agency

On July 31 local time Japan formally established a National Intelligence Agency. The inaugural director is Hara Kazuya, who previously headed the National Police Agency’s Foreign Affairs Division, served as director general of the Security Bureau, and has been Cabinet intelligence officer since 2023. Under a law passed earlier by the Diet, Japan will build an intelligence architecture centered on a National Security Council with the National Intelligence Agency as the executive body. The agency will coordinate intelligence for national security and counterterrorism, conduct external intelligence activities related to foreign spies, and has authority to require ministries and agencies to provide intelligence.