September 22, 2026
Japan’s New CIA Could Be Takaichi’s Trump Card
This article was originally published in Foreign Policy.
When Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meets with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly today, she will have a new plan at her disposal to highlight how Tokyo will do more for the U.S.-Japan security alliance. Her government is undertaking the most substantial overhaul of Japan’s intelligence collection and analysis capabilities since 1945, with the ultimate goal of creating something Japan has never had: its own version of the CIA by 2028.
Intelligence reform may generate fewer headlines than higher defense spending, new missiles, or arms deals, but it represents another consequential way Tokyo is assuming greater responsibility for its own security.
Although its final name and structure remain unsettled, Tokyo clearly intends for the new agency to conduct clandestine human intelligence (HUMINT) operations overseas against top security threats such as China, North Korea, and Russia. Since the end of World War II, Japan has conspicuously lacked a dedicated foreign intelligence service capable of systematically recruiting and running human sources overseas, in part because of the legacy of intelligence abuses during the imperial era. Yet Japan is hardly an intelligence novice. It has sophisticated technical collection capabilities, particularly in signals and geospatial intelligence. But technology cannot answer every question. Tokyo increasingly recognizes that it needs people on the ground who can penetrate foreign governments and organizations in order to uncover intentions and plans that satellites or intercepted communications cannot.
Read the full article in Foreign Policy.
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