Japan spy capability said at 'kindergarten' level

TOKYO, May 15 (Reuters) Japan needs to bolster its woefully weak ability to gather and analyse intelligence vital to ational interests, a former top intelligence official said today.

A foreign ministry advisory panel last September urged the creation of a Japanese version of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) -- popularly known as the employer of famed fictional spy James Bond -- to deal with terrorist threats and safeguard regional security.

''We have some kinds of (intelligence) activities. But concerning overseas activities especially, we are very weak,''Yoshio Omori, who headed that panel, told a symposium.

''If the CIA is at university, then we are in elementary school, or even in kindergarten,'' added Omori, a former director of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, which is charged with coordinating intelligence operations among varied agencies.

''Intelligence organisations in Japan are rather disorganised, and I'm afraid we are rather weak in sharing and integrating intelligence for the government as a whole,'' Omori said.

The low level of intelligence capability is hampering Japan's efforts to craft an independent diplomacy and could undermine its military power as well, participants in the symposium said.

''Military strength and intelligence have to be paired together to provide security,'' said former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

''However strong our air force, army and navy may be, if intelligence is lacking, the military cannot function.'' Japan also needs to train its diplomats and corporate executives how to resist overtures from spies, Omori said.

Tokyo and Beijing have been sparring over the suicide of a Japanese diplomat in Shanghai who Tokyo says killed himself because of ''deplorable action'' by Chinese public security authorities.

Japanese media have said the diplomat killed himself after a Chinese agent tried to blackmail him over his affair with a karaoke bar hostess, an allegation Beijing has strongly denied.

''Japanese diplomats or corporate executives abroad are targets of intelligence activities,'' Omori said. ''We need to try to prevent such activities to save Japanese people from such traps.'' Omori said it would take time for Japan to build up its intelligence capacity, but added he was sure there were citizens who were keen to take on such jobs if a new agency were set up.

''But you've got to have some qualification,'' he said.

''What would that be? Love for the country, or, perhaps more candidly, to want to tell foreign countries, 'Don't take Japan too lightly'.'' REUTERS SHB BST1619