Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2014 August 13 - 19 [POLITICS]

Gov’t intends to classify US forces-related information as state secrets

The government of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is intending to designate information concerning the U.S. forces as classified with operational guidelines for the State Secrets Protection Law, Akahata reported on August 14.

An appendix of the law has a list of 23 items covering four areas: defense, foreign affairs, prevention of specific harmful behavior, and anti-terrorism measures. Those items will be used to classify information as state secrets. The list has no specific category for U.S. military-related information.

Meanwhile, a draft of the operational guidelines for the state-secrets law, which the government has recently drawn up, states that in the defense area, information about Japan’s Self-Defense Forces as well as information concerning movements of the U.S. military and its defense capabilities will be treated as state secrets.

The State Secrets Protection Law violates people’s right to know and blocks public access to information designated as state secrets with punishment. It is unacceptable for the government to expand the coverage of such a law through the operational guidelines.