Center for a New American Security

Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, which are strategically important in peacetime, are a vital national asset in crises when time is a critical factor in decision-making and demands for information escalate drastically. In recent year's, Japan's security environment has grown increasingly less secure, making the collection and dissemination of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) information more important than ever to Japan’s defense.

This report argues that ISR is important for Japan’s strategic defense in particular and for regional security in general. It examines the role of ISR capabilities; analyzes Japan’s shifting strategic environment and growing need for improved ISR capabilities and integration, including ground-based analysis and use of the information that is retrieved; and assesses how Japan might utilize enhanced ISR through its alliance with the United States, by bolstering its national capacity, and by cooperating with other key countries in the wider Asia-Pacific region.