{"id":256643,"date":"2026-05-27T06:21:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/japan-enacts-law-centralising-intelligence-gathering-amid-privacy-fears\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T06:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:30:10","slug":"japan-enacts-law-centralising-intelligence-gathering-amid-privacy-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/japan-enacts-law-centralising-intelligence-gathering-amid-privacy-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan enacts law centralising intelligence gathering amid privacy fears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan enacts law centralising intelligence gathering amid privacy fears<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/asia\/east-asia\/article\/3355047\/japan-enacts-law-centralising-intelligence-gathering-amid-privacy-fears<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-05-27 06:21:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.scmp.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s parliament enacted a law on Wednesday to establish a new National Intelligence Council to centralise information gathering in response to overseas threats, marking a first step in plans to boost capabilities that have raised concerns over civil liberties.<\/p>\n

Establishing the council is a key aim in the governing agenda of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi<\/span>, a security hawk who has pledged to strengthen intelligence and counter-espionage capabilities in response to what her government calls the most complex security environment since the end of World War II.<\/p>\n

The move, made possible by support from some opposition parties in the House of Councillors where the governing coalition lacks a majority, marks a significant first step in the government\u2019s plans to expand Japan\u2019s counter-espionage architecture through further legislation.<\/p>\n

Takaichi has said a system for registering agents of foreign governments engaged in lobbying activities should be considered, and that Japan<\/span> needs to establish its own foreign intelligence agency.<\/p>\n

The new law lacks provisions for parliament to monitor intelligence activities, leaving questions regarding democratic oversight unresolved.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s members of parliament discuss a bill to establish the \u201cNational Intelligence Council\u201d in a plenary session of the House of Councillors in Tokyo on Wednesday. Photo: AFP<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters at her office, Takaichi maintained the new law will not raise risks to privacy, saying it will \u201cestablish the foundations of Japan\u2019s intelligence capabilities\u201d and strengthen the country\u2019s ability to \u201cprotect public safety and the national interest\u201d.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japan enacts law centralising intelligence gathering amid privacy fears https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/asia\/east-asia\/article\/3355047\/japan-enacts-law-centralising-intelligence-gathering-amid-privacy-fears Publish Date: 2026-05-27 06:21:00 Source…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":256644,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/og_image_scmp_generic\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/05\/27\/4160acaa-ac03-45ef-a3bf-4261839fd5b6_4452119d.jpg?itok=3j5D06HS&v=1779877312","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-256643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256643"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256645,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256643\/revisions\/256645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}