Hansen,
James H. Japanese Intelligence: The Competitive Edge. Washington, DC: NIBC, 1996.
The best brief review of the current state of Japanese intelligence is contained in a "Review and Commentary" article by Robert D'A. Henderson, "Reforming Japanese Intelligence," IJI&C 10.2: "The Japanese government currently has three principal intelligence assessment agencies, two of which have intelligence gathering capabilities.... The principal agency for compiling intelligence assessments on foreign affairs and domestic threats for cabinet decisionmakers is the Cabinet Information Research Office ... [which has] no intelligence gathering capacity.... The second intelligence assessment organization is the Public Security Investigation Agency ... [which] is responsible for surveillance and countering of internal security threats.... The third element of Japan's intelligence community is the Japanese Defense Agency (JDA) which is responsible for military intelligence, SIGINT and electronic intelligence collection, and code deciphering." (pp. 233-235)
Hansen,
James H. Japanese Intelligence: The Competitive Edge. Washington, DC: NIBC, 1996.
Henderson, IJI&C 10.2, is less than completely enamoured of this work. He finds that Hansen's study "is short on analysis, is dated in its details and has only weak organizational diagrams.... His cited sources are limited to pre-1993 English language publications, with an over-reliance on the writings of Richard Deacon and Jeffrey Richelson." Hansen does provide a more interesting discussion "of the intelligence activities of the major Japanese trading corporations" and "their 'intelligence collection and analysis' modus operandi." Overall, this is "a convenient if somewhat basic primer on Japanese intelligence up to the early 1990s."
For Oros, I&NS 14.3, the "primary contribution" of Hansen's work is to point out how little we really know about Japanese intelligence. This is because the book "offers little more than a compilation of a few existing, English-language sources... -- many of which are quite dated."
Haruna Mikio. Himitsu no fairu: CIA no tainichi kosaku [Secret Files: The CIA's Operations against Japan]. 2 vols. Tokto: Shincho Bunko, 2003.
Mercado, IJI&C 18.1 (Spring 2005), calls this "an impressive history" of U.S. intelligence. The author "begins on the eve of Pearl Harbor" and continues through World War II and the U.S. occupation before turning to the Cold War era. In high praise, the reviewer comments: "As impressive as Haruna's thoroughness is his rational view of intelligence."
Harvey,
Donald [RADM/USN (Ret.)]
1. "Intelligence Notebook: Japanese Military Intelligence Unit Forming." Periscope 20, no. 7 (1995): 8.
"The budget proposals of the Japanese Defense Ministry for the next fiscal year beginning in April indicate the intent to form a Defense intelligence organization. The new unit, at present called simply the 'Intelligence Headquarters,' would come under the Joint Staff Council.... The budget request is for $65 million ... to set up a 1,650-member unit headed by a full general or admiral. The organization would bring together the five separate intelligence units of the army, navy and air force, the ministry and the Defense Technology Institute.... It had been reported earlier that the Japanese have concluded they can no longer be dependent on intelligence support provided by the United States."
2. "Intelligence Notebook: Japan's Joint Intelligence Center Now Open." Periscope 22, no. 3 (Jul. 1997): 7.
"About 1,600 civilian and military personnel have begun work in the new Defense Intelligence Headquarters in Tokyo.... Japan will continue to rely heavily on US intelligence but intends to build up its own capabilities."
Henderson, Robert D'A. "Review and Commentary: Reforming Japanese Intelligence." International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 10, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 227-238.
This is an excellent brief review of the current state of Japanese intelligence. The author finds that "[t]he Japanese government currently has three principal intelligence assessment agencies, two of which have intelligence gathering capabilities.... The principal agency for compiling intelligence assessments on foreign affairs and domestic threats for cabinet decisionmakers is the Cabinet Information Research Office ... [which has] no intelligence gathering capacity.... The second intelligence assessment organization is the Public Security Investigation Agency ... [which] is responsible for surveillance and countering of internal security threats.... The third element of Japan's intelligence community is the Japanese Defense Agency (JDA) which is responsible for military intelligence, SIGINT and electronic intelligence collection, and code deciphering." (pp. 233-235)
Herring,
Jan P. "Business Intelligence in Japan and Sweden: Lessons for the
US." Journal of Business Strategy (Mar./Apr. 1992): 44-48.
Jourdonnais, Adam. "Intelligence in the New Japan." Studies in Intelligence 7, no. 3 (Summer 1963): 1-14.
There are "historical, psychological, and institutional" reasons why modern Japan has not established "an intelligence system appropriate to its current involvement in world affairs."
Kahaner,
Larry. Competitive Intelligence. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.
According to Library Journal, 15 Mar. 1997, the author "views competitive intelligence as a tool of national economic sovereignty as well as corporate market success." Kahaner compares the small percentage of large U.S. firms that have formal intelligence operations with the Japanese, "for whom competitive intelligence has been part of national industrial strategy since World War II."
Oros, I&NS 14.3, notes that while Japan may be the author's "paragon of the use of competitive intelligence in busines, he is not uncritical of Japanese practices." In particular, Kahaner contrasts the Japanese strength in intelligence with a weakness in analysis.
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