Japan Press Weekly

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2011 July 6 - 12 [POLITICS]

Information-gathering satellite fails to play role in March 11 disaster

Officials from the defense ministry and the police agency are involved in the operations of the information gathering satellite (IGS) which has been used for military purposes rather than for responses to natural disasters.

This was revealed by the government’s written statement published on July 9 in answer to an inquiry made by Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Yoshii Hidekatsu on June 30.

According to the government reply, among 219 staff of the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center, which controls the IGS, 11 are from the Defense Ministry, 29 from the National Police Agency, and 8 from the Public Security Intelligence Agency. Three successive directors of the center were former high-ranking Defense Ministry officials.

Regarding the use of information about natural disasters gathered by the satellite, the government answered that the center analyzed images of major disasters such as the Great East Japan Disaster “and distributed data to related ministries as needed”, but never released the images publicly.

The government refused to answer whether or not the satellite photographed how the tsunami damaged the Onagawa nuclear power plant on March 11 by stating, “To respond to such a question may interfere with intelligence operations.”

Yoshii has been demanding that images collected by the IGS be utilized to aid in search operations in the tsunami-stricken areas where no roads remain.