Japan drafts plan for national security council

Tokyo, Feb 27: In a move aimed at strengthening the Japanese prime minister's grip over policy as Tokyo seeks a bolder security stance, an advisory panel today released a proposal for a national security council.

Japan's security policy is currently handled by several ministries, which has prompted criticism that the various ministries did not cooperate as well as they should and hindered national interests.

A panel of experts that has been meeting since last November issued an outline and proposed structure on Tuesday for what has been referred to as a Japanese version of the White House's National Security Council.

The proposal contained few concrete policy steps and there was no mention of the possibility of establishing an intelligence-gathering service, as had been speculated about before the panel began its meetings.

''Not only are there regional issues such as North Korea's nuclear weapons, internationally new threats have emerged such as frequent outbreaks of terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and worsening regional wars,'' the proposal said.

''It is essential to have a general capability to deal with such threats,'' it said.

The council would be headed by the prime minister and include the chief cabinet secretary and foreign and defence ministers, though other officials could be appointed by the prime minister.

The group would meet at least twice a month and also be attended by the prime minister's national security adviser.

The post is now filled by Yuriko Koike, a former environment minister who has described herself as the counterpart of White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

Reuters