Japanese army to boost intelligence gathering

Tokyo, Dec 31: Japan's army is to set up a new intelligenceunit likely to include a human intelligence gathering service, thefirst for any branch of the modern nation's military, a leading dailysaid today.

The service is needed because increasing Japanese militaryactivities abroad have left its troops more vulnerable, requiring moredetailed local intelligence, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

According to sources quoted by the daily, the Ground Self-DefenceForce -- Japan's army in all but name -- would form a centralintelligence unit of about 600 members.

Yomiuri said the human intelligence group, expected to have around70 members, would gather information through methods that would includetapping cooperative local sources.

Officials at Japan's Defence Agency were unavailable for comment.

The Self-Defence Forces have a centralised intelligence unitcreated from all branches of the military, but Yomiuri said that untilnow the unit has been unable to use people to gather information,relying instead on satellite images, radio signals and analysis offoreign countries' military affairs.

Japan sent about 550 troops on a non-combat mission to thesouthern Iraqi town of Samawa in 2004 in a show of support for theUnited States. Their mission ended last July.

The deployment, the Japanese military's riskiest overseas missionsince World War Two, was a milestone in its shift away from a purelydefensive posture towards giving its forces a bigger international role.

Critics said the mission violated the pacifist constitutionimposed on Japan after its 1945 surrender by sending the soldiers to ade facto war zone.

Reuters