Japan’s Defense Ministry to create new post of global strategy intelligence officer

The Yomiuri Shimbun

7:01 JST, March 30, 2022

The Defense Ministry will create a new position in April, tentatively called a global strategy intelligence officer, who analyzes information disseminated by other countries and fake news.

The aim is to strengthen Japan’s ability to cope with hybrid warfare, which combines military actions, information warfare and cyber-attacks. The post will involve analyzing the authenticity of and intentions behind news reports and posts on social media platforms such as Twitter, to prevent fake news from influencing public opinion.

It will become part of the ministry’s investigation division as early as April 1.

Hybrid warfare became globally known in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea, a southern region of Ukraine. The Russian military is also believed to have utilized deceptive tactics and cyber-attacks to create an excuse to attack Ukraine this year.

Emphasizing three kinds of warfare — public opinion, psychological and legal — to sway the other party by influencing public opinion, the Chinese military is promoting the introduction of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Amid this situation, the Japanese government deemed it urgent to respond to the situation by creating the post of global strategy intelligence officer.