Public Security Intelligence Agency

Public Security Intelligence Agency
公安調査庁
Kōanchōsa-chō
Agency overview
FormedJuly 21, 1952; 72 years ago (1952-07-21)
Preceding agencies
  • Investigation Bureau (IB), Home Ministry (1946)[1]
  • Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB), 2nd Office (1948)[1]
  • Special Investigation Board (SIB), Attorney General's Office (1948-1949)[4][5]
JurisdictionGovernment of Japan
HeadquartersChiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
Employees+/- 1,740 officers (As of 2020)[2]
Annual budget13,256,000,000 Yen (As of 2022)[3]
Minister responsible
Agency executive
  • Masaki Wada, Director-General
Parent agencyMinistry of Justice
WebsiteOfficial Site (in Japanese)

The Public Security Intelligence Agency (公安調査庁, kōanchōsa-chō) is the domestic intelligence agency of Japan. It is administered by the Ministry of Justice and is tasked with internal security and espionage against threats to Japanese national security based on the Subversive Activities Prevention Act and the Act Regarding the Control of Organizations Which Committed Indiscriminate Mass Murder.[6][7] Any investigation conducted by the agency needs to go through the Public Security Examination Commission (PSEC) in order to determine if there is a justification to investigate and clamp down on an organization's activities.[8]

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.[6]

The PSIA's findings are released publicly through the annually-published Naigai Jousei no Kaiko to Tenbo (Situation in Public Security inside and outside Japan and their prospect) as well as regularly-published Kokusai Terrorism Youran (International Terrorism Report).[8]

In recent years, the PSIA is eyed as the basis for the creation of a new foreign intelligence agency.[9]

  1. ^ a b "公安調査庁とは" (in Japanese). Japanese Ministry of Justice.
  2. ^ "法務省定員規則 | e-Gov法令検索".
  3. ^ https://www.bb.mof.go.jp/server/2022/dlpdf/DL202211001.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  4. ^ Wildes 1953, p. 667.
  5. ^ "Intelligence in the New Japan — Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on March 12, 2008.
  6. ^ a b Public Security Investigation Agency. Retrieved on January 5, 2008.
  7. ^ HISTORICAL BACKGROUND, Official PSIA Webpage. Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on January 5, 2008.
  8. ^ a b https://www.stimson.org/sites/default/files/file-attachments/Tatsumi_%20Japan%27s_Security_Policy_Infrastructure_Final_Version.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  9. ^ "Japan eyes MI6-style spy agency as it seeks to shed pacifist past". Reuters. March 6, 2015 – via www.reuters.com.