Japan’s Cabinet Approves Gen. Kenichiro Nagumo as Head of New SDF Joint Command Set to Launch at End of March

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:16 JST, March 12, 2025

The government approved the assignment of Gen. Kenichiro Nagumo to the post of commander of the Self-Defense Forces Joint Operations Command, set to be established on Mar. 24, at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

Nagumo, 59, will head the new command office that will direct all three forces of the SDF — the Ground Self-Defense Force, the Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Air Self-Defense Force — in an integrated manner.

The commander of the Joint Operations Command will be coequal with the chiefs of staff for the three SDF forces. Nagumo is currently the vice chief of staff for the SDF’s Joint Staff Office.

The new command under Nagumo will manage the main units of the SDF including during peacetimes. It will be launched with about 240 staff members in the Defense Ministry in Tokyo’s Ichigaya area.

The SDF had until now been run by the chief of the Joint Staff Office, the top SDF officer. But the government determined that, as the national security environment surrounding Japan has grown increasingly complex, the chief of the Joint Staff Office needs to concentrate on their role as adviser to the defense minister.

That led to the government deciding to establish the new command office.

Nagumo, who is from Yamagata Prefecture, graduated from the National Defense Academy in 1989. He previously served in such key positions as director general of the Defense Planning and Policy Department of the Air Staff Office and commander of the Western Air Defense Force.