TOKYO—Japan has moved up the launch of an anti-terrorism intelligence unit following the deadly attacks in Paris, the government said Friday.
The specialized unit will be set up within the Foreign Ministry next week, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
It will involve staff from the foreign and defense ministries, the National Police Agency and the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, Japan’s current equivalent of the U.S. CIA.
Intelligence-gathering staff will be sent to areas susceptible to terrorist activities, including parts of Southeast Asia, the Middle East and northwestern Africa, Suga said.
He cited a “severe safety situation” in the world.
The push to improve anti-terrorism intelligence capabilities has gained urgency as Japan prepares to host a Group of Seven summit next year, and the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.
The office, called the Counterterrorism Unit-Japan, originally was to be launched in April, but was moved up because of the Paris attacks, Foreign Ministry officials said.
Intelligence gathering for use in counterterrorism is a new area that Japan needs to concentrate on and add more resources, said Keiichi Ono, director of the Foreign Ministry’s management and coordination division.
