On July 31, 2026, Japan's government formally launched the National Intelligence Bureau and the National Intelligence Council, chaired by the prime minister, marking the country's first centralized intelligence apparatus since the end of World War II. The new bodies grew out of the former Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office (CIRO), whose functions had been comparatively limited, representing a major overhaul of Japan's intelligence system. Since Japan's 1945 defeat, when the Allied occupation authorities dismantled the country's wartime intelligence and military police apparatus, Japan had lacked a central intelligence body with authority to coordinate across government departments — a fragmented state of affairs that persisted for more than eighty years. The same day, the prime minister's office also held the first meeting of the National Intelligence Council, chaired in person by Sanae Takaichi. Security analysts broadly agree the reform signals that Tokyo is strengthening its regional defense capabilities and further cementing ties with the United States and other Western allies, coming as Japan increasingly views China, Russia and North Korea as growing regional security threats.

Under a law passed by Japan's National Diet in May 2026, the new system has a two-tier structure: the National Intelligence Council, chaired by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and including nine other cabinet ministers, coordinates intelligence policy, serves as a "central command," and is linked to Japan's existing national security framework; the National Intelligence Bureau acts as the council's secretariat and operational arm, coordinating intelligence gathered by the National Police Agency, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and other bodies. Notably, the new bureau has been given authority to compel these agencies to share intelligence with it — a power the former Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office lacked, and which is considered the core change of the reform.

Kazuya Hara, who has served as director of cabinet intelligence since June 2023, was appointed as the bureau's first director, a choice seen as emphasizing continuity in the reform. According to multiple media reports, the bureau launched with a staff of roughly 700 to 730 and a budget of about $407 million. Analysts say Japan's intelligence capabilities have long been scattered across the Defense Ministry, Foreign Ministry, National Police Agency and other bodies, each collecting and analyzing intelligence largely on its own with limited coordination and information often failing to flow between them in time — a system Australia's ambassador to Japan, among others, has described as having been "frozen in time for decades" and ill-equipped for an increasingly complex security environment.

One factor behind the reform was reporting that Japan had become a haven for Russian espionage activity. An earlier investigative report by the New York Times said Japan had become fertile ground for Russian intelligence operatives, with long-unaddressed vulnerabilities, reporting believed to have added momentum to the domestic push for intelligence reform. In addition, Japanese officials have repeatedly pointed to China's continued military activity in the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and nearby waters, as well as an increasing pace of North Korean missile tests, as concrete reasons for urgently strengthening Japan's intelligence-gathering and analysis capabilities.

On the alliance front, reports indicate that U.S. intelligence agencies have advised Japan on cyber defense and guarding against industrial espionage, while the head of Germany's foreign intelligence service also visited Tokyo to discuss intelligence cooperation. Prime Minister Takaichi has emphasized that the launch of the National Intelligence Bureau is "merely the first step" in intelligence reform. Japanese media reports say the government plans to set up an expert panel under the National Intelligence Council by autumn to discuss a counterespionage bill that could be submitted to next year's ordinary Diet session, with future reforms possibly including a separate, standalone foreign intelligence agency akin to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or Britain's MI6 — a longer-term goal some analysts say could extend to around 2028. A commentary by the U.S. think tank the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) suggested that the long-term vision of a Japanese version of the CIA could be seen as one of Takaichi's "trump cards" for consolidating her hold on power, reflecting her apparent ambition to shape her political legacy through strengthened intelligence and defense institutions.

China's government reacted sharply. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the move was another "negative" step in Japan's domestic and foreign security policy, arguing that Japan's intelligence agencies had historically paved the way for the country's militarist expansion and wars of aggression, and urging Japanese lawmakers to "learn from history and act prudently." She also said that, under the pretext of countering external threats and safeguarding national security, Japan has been accelerating its own process of "remilitarization." Chinese military-affiliated media also linked the new intelligence bureau to Japan's space program, accusing Tokyo of fueling an "arms race" and undermining regional security and stability, part of a diplomatic dispute that has drawn near-daily rebukes from Beijing over the past month or so. A researcher at the China Institute of International Studies said the move reflects a broader effort by Japan to reshape its postwar security structure.

At the same time, the reform has stirred controversy within Japan itself. Some opposition lawmakers and civil society groups worry that the expanded powers of the new bodies could infringe on citizens' privacy and lack sufficient democratic oversight; some critics draw comparisons to Imperial Japan's prewar "Tokko" special higher police, fearing a repeat of history. Protests against the intelligence legislation have taken place in Tokyo, with demonstrators warning the move could push the country toward renewed militarization and away from the pacifist path it has maintained since the war.

The intelligence overhaul is also being viewed against the broader backdrop of Japan's continued expansion of its defense capabilities in recent years. Tokyo has steadily increased its defense budget, revised its security strategy documents, and strengthened joint military deployments and intelligence-sharing arrangements with the United States across the western Pacific. Some regional security observers say the National Intelligence Bureau further addresses what has long been seen as a weak link in Japan's response to tensions in the Taiwan Strait, the Korean Peninsula and Chinese air and maritime activity, bringing its "hard power" and intelligence capacity into closer alignment.

Despite regional pressure from China and skepticism within parts of Japanese public opinion, analysts broadly agree that security and intelligence cooperation between Japan and its Western allies, including the United States, has not been shaken by the controversy — and may in fact deepen further as Tokyo's intelligence capabilities expand. The establishment of the National Intelligence Bureau is seen as a symbolic step in Japan's security policy, one that may foreshadow further structural changes to its intelligence and defense architecture in the years ahead.