Defense Intelligence Headquarters

Back in the 1980s, the former Defense Agency had several intelligence divisions with different duties. Among these intelligence division in the Defense Agency had included those from the Central Data Command Unit, the Joint Staff Council's Second Office and the three branches of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF).[4] Most of the DID's establishment was based on the Second Investigation Bureau of the JGSDF.[5] They were involved in intercepting communications that led to and after the shooting of Korean Air Lines Flight 007.[5]

A supposed plan to integrate the intelligence divisions of the three JSDF branches started in 1988 before lack of cooperation and subordination ended it.[4]

Plans to consolidate all the intelligence bureaus of the old Defense Administration into one agency had started in the 1990s[6] after the National Diet had passed a law on May 1996, calling for the creation of a central military intelligence agency before the DIH was eventually established on January 20, 1997[3][7] after intelligence units from the JSDF, Japanese Defense Agency and the Joint Staff council are united[8] with the appointment of Lieutenant General Kunimi Masahiro as the agency's first commanding officer.[2] Initially, DIH civilian and military staff members were numbered at 1,580[7] with a planned manpower of 2,000 personnel[9] before it reached its current manpower of 2,300 staff members.[10] In 2011, the manpower is 1,907 members[11]

Spy satellites had been planned for launch in 1998 as part of augmenting the DIH's intelligence gathering capabilities. Though two were able to launch into space, two more were destroyed in a botch attempt to send them to space.[12]

In 2005, the DIH has suffered its first internal leak of classified information when a Colonel in the JASDF had been arrested for allegedly leaking information regarding the accident of a People's Liberation Army Navy Submarine that took place in the same year in the South China Sea[13]

The DIH had announced in 2006 that a liaison office was established in Washington, D.C. with the National Security Agency.[14]

The DIH is under the jurisdiction of the Joint Staff and is controlled by the Defense Intelligence Committee, which is made up of the Chiefs of Staff of the JGSDF, JMSDF and JASDF along with the Chief of Staff, Joint Staff, State Minister of Defense and the Minister of Defense.[18][19]

Command of the DIH was given directly to the Japanese Minister of Defense on March 2006.[10] The deputy officer is usually a civilian officially appointed by the MOD.[20] Four Defense Intelligence Officers (DIOs) are also appointed with three being colonels from the JGSDF or the JASDF with one a civilian official.[20]

The SIGINT facilities managed by the Chobetsu (Chosa Besshitsu) or the Annex Chamber, Second Section, Second Investigation Division in English, from 1958 to 1997 is managed by the DIH.[21] Command of the SIGINT division is usually filled by a senior officer from the NPA.[22]

A number of divisions were established under the DIH, including the following:[19][23]

The main role of the DIH is to collect information and analyse for planning defense and operation policy. The agency collect information from open sources, signals and image intelligence as well as from other Japanese government ministries, Japanese embassies and other affiliated ministries and organizations.[10][23] In addition, they also gather intelligence through surveillance activities.[24]

The seal of the DIH consist of the following symbols:

• Pheasant – Quality of intelligence gathering at high speed[25]
• Red oval shapes around Earth – Positions of spy satellites[25]
• Lightning – Radio waves[25]
• Star – Section and Stations of the DIH[25]

DIH directors are usually positioned by a Lieutenant General from the JGSDF/JASDF or a Vice Admiral from the JMSDF.

• Fumio Ota[26]
• Kenichiro Hokazono; the former Chief of Air Staff
• Koji Shimohira
• Tadashi Miyagawa (宮川正)

• Davies, Philip H.J.; Gustafson, Kristian, eds. (2013). Intelligence Elsewhere: Spies and Espionage Outside the Anglosphere. Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-1589019560.
• Dover, Robert; Goodman, Michael S.; Hillebrand, Claudia, eds. (2014). Routledge Companion to Intelligence Studies. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1589019560.

• Official Site (in Japanese)

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