Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2013 October 30 - November 5 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Intelligence assessments influenced by policy makers: former cabinet official

Prior to the Iraq War, the then Koizumi Cabinet’s intention to support the U.S. in its call for war prevented itself from gathering independent information regarding the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, a former cabinet official revealed in the Diet on October 31.

He is former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yanagisawa Kyoji, who dealt with intelligence gathering at the prime minister’s office under Koizumi Jun’ichiro’s Cabinet.

At a Lower House special committee meeting on national security, Yanagisawa said as an unsworn witness, “I was wrong and all the others with me were also wrong at that time,” recalling the then cabinet’s collection of information regarding Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, which was used as the grounds to start the U.S.-led war on Iraq.

“Intelligence gathering was influenced by the policymakers’ position. The biggest lesson here is the need to try not to repeat the same thing,” he stressed.

A bill to install a National Security Council, which is being discussed in special committee, requires government ministries and agencies to submit information regarding “national security”. Yanagisawa warned that just because the cabinet orders information gathering, it does not mean that it will receive the correct information.