Public Security Intelligence Agency
Encyclopedia
Intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It is administered by the Ministry of Justice in the government
Government of Japan
The government of Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the 1947 constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people". Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected...
of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and is tasked with internal security and espionage against threats to Japanese national security based on the Subversive Activities Prevention Act.
As the national agency with the role to collect intelligence information, the PSIA contributes to Japanese government policy by providing relevant organizations with necessary foreign and domestic data (collected through investigations and intelligence activities) on subversive organizations. It's also known that the PSIA is responsible for conducting surveillance and intelligence-related work on Zainichi Koreans on Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese soil. It conducts its operations on domestic soil.
History
The Public Security Intelligence Agency was established with the enforcement of the Subversive Activities Prevention Law on July 21, 1952.Initially focusing on threats from pro-left wing groups such as the Japanese Red Army
Japanese Red Army
The was a Communist terrorist group founded by Fusako Shigenobu early in 1971 in Lebanon. It sometimes called itself Arab-JRA after the Lod airport massacre...
during the days of the Cold War, it began to conduct intelligence work on the Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway....
after the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway
Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway
The Sarin attack on the Tokyo subway, usually referred to in the Japanese media as the , was an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated by members of Aum Shinrikyo on March 20, 1995....
in 1995 with criticism that the PSIA did not monitor the group, especially with their attempt to acquire and stockpile biological weapons on Japanese soil
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
. The PSIA had cooperated with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau
Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau
The is a bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in charge of public security with jurisdiction over Tokyo metropolis. It has a force of more than 2,000 officers....
in investigating Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway....
for a number of years. When asked about their investigation on the cult, a PSIA report had said "There has been no change in its dangerous nature. Strict surveillance is essential."
The PSIA had investigated Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway....
when it was revealed that the group had established software firms that could pose security risks to Japan.
Chongryon
Chongryon
The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan , abbreviated to Chongryon The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chae Ilbon Chosŏnin Ch'ongryŏnhaphoe in Korean or Zai-Nihon Chōsenjin Sōrengōkai in Japanese), abbreviated to Chongryon The General Association of Korean Residents...
has been under PSIA surveillance for a long time, suspecting it of supposedly performing espionage activities in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese soil. The Japanese Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice (Japan)
The is one of Ministries of the Japanese government.-Meiji Constitution:The Ministry of Justice was established under the Constitution of the Empire of Japan in 1871 as the .-Constitution of Japan:...
has sought ¥270 million to fund the PSIA on conducting intelligence against North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
n espionage activities.
The PSIA had been supposed to be integrated with Naicho
Naicho
Naichō is the premier intelligence agency of Japan, reporting directly to the Prime Minister. The agency is said to be an equal to the American Central Intelligence Agency...
in order to reorient the agency to a post-Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and to enhance Naicho
Naicho
Naichō is the premier intelligence agency of Japan, reporting directly to the Prime Minister. The agency is said to be an equal to the American Central Intelligence Agency...
's resources, but the proposal was not adopted.
Current PSIA cases
- An investigation into French Al-QaedaAl-QaedaAl-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
terrorist Lionel DumontLionel DumontLionel Dumont is a former French soldier currently serving life in prison. He converted to Islam after serving with peacekeepers in Somalia. He was later accused of participating in the Gang de Roubaix, which unsuccessfully tried to set a car bomb during the G7 meeting in Lille in March...
had been the responsibility of the PSIA in 2004. - The PSIA raided the headquarters of Fumihiro JoyuFumihiro Joyuwas the spokesperson and public relations manager of the controversial Japanese Buddhist group Aum Shinrikyo, and has been the de facto chief of the organization from 1999 to 2007, when he split and formed a new group.-High society member:...
's Hikari no WaHikari no Wais a breakaway group started by , the previous spokesperson and public relations manager of the Japanese terrorist cult Aum Shinrikyo in 2007.At its foundation, the group had 57 live-in followers and nine other executives with 106 lay members....
on May 10, 2007. Despite insistence from Joyu that his group had ended ties with Aum ShinrikyoAum ShinrikyoAum Shinrikyo was a Japanese new religious movement. The group was founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway....
, a PSIA official warned that his group has ties to Shoko AsaharaShoko Asahara, born on March 2, 1955, is a founder of the controversial Japanese new religious group Aum Shinrikyo. He was convicted of masterminding the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway and several other crimes, for which he was sentenced to death...
.
Organization
The PSIA is formed with the current organization:- Internal Departments
- General Affairs Department
- First Intelligence Department
- Second Intelligence Department
- Institute
- Training Institute
- Regional Bureaus
- Public Security Intelligence Bureaus (Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Takamatsu)
- Public Security Intelligence Offices (Kushiro, Morioka, Saitama, Chiba, Yokohama, Niigata, Nagano, Shizuoka, Naha, Kobe, Okayama, Kumamoto, Kyoto and Kanazawa)
- Public Security Intelligence Bureaus (Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka and Takamatsu)
Foreign ties
The PSIA has ties to several foreign intelligence as security agencies, including the CIA, FBI, MossadMossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
and MI6, with several PSIA agents being invited to train with the CIA under its Intelligence Analysis Course.
Investment Allegation
There had been some suggestion that ChongryonChongryon
The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan , abbreviated to Chongryon The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chae Ilbon Chosŏnin Ch'ongryŏnhaphoe in Korean or Zai-Nihon Chōsenjin Sōrengōkai in Japanese), abbreviated to Chongryon The General Association of Korean Residents...
's head office in Chiyoda had been sold to Shigetake Ogata, an ex-director-general
Director-general
The term director-general is a title given the highest executive officer within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution.-European Union:...
of the PSIA under the agency's influence. A PSIA press statement cleared this allegation when it said that it denied being involved in the deal between Chongryon and Ogata.
Ogata had been arrested for alleged fraud, which he had denied. Ogata had been later charged with fraud after he admitted that he did so.
Known Directors-General of PSIA
- Shigetake Ogata - 1993 to 1997, head of Harvest investiment group
- Toshiro Yanagi - 2006 to 2009