ABSTRACT
The CIRO is Japan’s central intelligence agency based in the Cabinet Office. CIRO has a staff of around 170 people, 100 of whom are on loan from other ministries and agencies, and most of the chief positions are occupied by police officers. It is tasked with collecting open source information and coordinating with other intelligence agencies, but the staff shortages makes carrying out these duties particularly difficult. The head of the CIRO is required to advise the Prime Minister weekly, but according to Andrew Oros (2002: 6), ‘[m]any experts give the CIRO poor marks on its primary mission of dealing with intelligence on national strategy, particularly in the post Cold War period’. The CIRO expanded with the creation of a subordinate organisation, the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Centre, which was established in 2001. The centre employs 320 staff, 100 of whom are IMINT analysts, and it has four optical satellites and one radar satellite. Additional optical and radar satellites are scheduled to launch in 2012. The latest version of the satellite (IGS-6A) was launched in September 2011 and is said to have a 60 cm resolution (Lele 2013: 195).
