Japan Press Weekly

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2026 March 4 - 10 TOP3 [POLITICS]

LDP proposes strengthening of spying and wiretapping capabilities

The Liberal Democratic Party submitted a proposal to the government on March 3 regarding the strengthening of signals intelligence (sigint) and human intelligence (humint) capabilities.

The Japanese government, in its attempt to turn the county into a war-capable nation, has embarked on acquiring a “counterstrike capability” to attack enemy missile launch sites. For such a nation, intelligence would be crucial. It would also be essential identifying potential attack targets.

In response to the LDP proposal, Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae suggested setting up an expert panel as early as this summer to begin work on creating a “national intelligence council,” a “national intelligence agency,” and a “foreign intelligence agency”.

In addition to the strengthening of Japan’s intelligence capabilities, PM Takaichi has been eager to enact an “anti-espionage law”.

In Japan, Public Security Police investigators already conduct surveillance and suppress targeted individuals through wiretapping and espionage. However, the government now seeks to legalize wiretapping methods that are currently problematic under existing laws, as well as espionage activities involving the infiltration of organizations under false identities.

If this happens, surveillance of citizens will intensify under the pretext of preventing “foreign interference”, thereby undermining today’s rule of law and democracy.