NIPPON




 

The Diet, Japan's parliament, began substantive deliberations Friday on a bill to establish a national intelligence council aimed at enhancing the government's intelligence capabilities.

At the day's meeting of the Cabinet Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki said that an agency that would serve as the secretariat of the proposed council is "expected to take effective measures against foreign influence operations."

 

It is "urgent" to take measures against such activities, including the spread of false information, because they are "a security threat and shake the foundations of democracy," Ozaki emphasized.

Yuichi Goto of the main opposition Centrist Reform Alliance requested that the bill stipulate the protection of privacy, including personal information.

In response, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said, "Information will be collected in accordance with the law on the protection of personal information, and we do not see the need to set out separate provisions."