Japan to set up US-style security council

TOKYO - JAPAN is poised to set up a National Security Council (NSC) that aims to concentrate policy planning on major diplomatic and security issues in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

The new body, modelled along the lines of the one in Washington, will replace the government's existing Security Council, which plays no role in formulating such policies.

The proposal to create the new NSC was contained in an interim report tabled earlier this week by a panel seeking ways of boosting the functions of the PMO.

The new council will formulate long-term diplomatic and security strategies, make decisions in policy areas that straddle more than one ministry and respond swiftly to national emergencies.

Its establishment comes amid a worsening security environment around Japan, especially after the nuclear tests and missile launches conducted by neighbouring North Korea.

The NSC will be chaired by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and will include the chief Cabinet secretary and foreign and defence ministers as permanent members. Other ministers will participate in meetings when necessary.

The council, which will meet twice a month, is expected to become a test of Mr Abe's political abilities.

The influential business daily Nikkei said the NSC 'could be an effective organisation for developing policies that will help raise Japan's international profile'.

'But whether the council will really work as it should will depend greatly on the political abilities of the prime minister in office at the time,' it added.

Mr Abe has ambitions of giving Japan a larger global security role and is suspected of hoping to use the NSC to study the viability of Japan taking part in joint military operations with other countries, which is banned under the Constitution.

Since coming to power last September, the Japanese leader has yet to display strong leadership, a weakness that has contributed to the erosion of his popularity over the past few months.

But just having an NSC does not guarantee that Mr Abe will be in charge.

Resistance by Japan's elite bureaucracy can make white elephants of government panels.

The existing Security Council, set up in 1986, ended up as a rubber-stamping body for policy recommendations by bureaucrats.

To function effectively, the new council needs staff but is expected to have only 10 to 20 full-time employees, compared to some 200 in the case of Washington's NSC.

Because the creation of the NSC was one of Mr Abe's key campaign promises, there appears to have been an attempt to rush out a concept before it was fully developed.

For instance, there is no clear indication how the NSC will have access to the intelligence gathered by each ministry and where it will get the personnel to analyse the data for the council's consideration.

Japanese government agencies are reportedly loath to share information with each other or even with the PMO because of sectionalism and also because of concerns that information might be leaked by politicians.

The composition of the council could be another problem.

Mr Abe's national security adviser, former environment minister Yuriko Koike, is supposed to attend all meetings of the council but is not considered a formal member as she is not a Cabinet member. Ms Koike and four other special aides to the Prime Minister are viewed with disgruntlement by the bureaucracy.

'We are not sure what their roles are. But they seem to be trying to duplicate our work,' said an official who declined to be named.

wengkin@gol.com