ID :
12680
Wed, 07/16/2008 - 11:52
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/12680
The shortlink copeid
Panel proposes removing bureaucrats' power over SDF operation+
TOKYO, July 16 Kyodo - A government panel on Defense Ministry reform endorsed a nonbinding report Tuesday featuring proposals such as keeping bureaucrats away from the operation of the Self-Defense Forces so uniformed officers can manage SDF units more efficiently.
The panel under Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura also proposed that an SDF officer lead a group of bureaucrats as chief of a division of the ministry while maintaining the current structure of the ministry involving both bureaucrats and SDF officers largely intact.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. adviser Nobuya Minami, who heads the panel, presented the report to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. Other panel members include academics and retired defense bureaucrats.
If realized, it would be the first drastic structural reform of the ministry since its predecessor Defense Agency was launched in 1954. The agency was upgraded to a full ministry last year.
It remains uncertain whether the proposed reform plans will actually be implemented as it would require onerous work including revisions of the Defense Ministry Establishment Law and SDF Law with the backing of the opposition camp, which controls the upper house.
The chief Cabinet secretary set up the panel last year after a spate of scandals involving the ministry and SDF such as a collusion scandal involving former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya and the alleged mishandling of data including intelligence in the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
A key item of the proposals is to do away with the ministry's Operational Policy Bureau, a section of bureaucrats, and let the ministry's Joint Staff Office, consisting mostly of uniformed officers, manage SDF units under orders of the defense minister.
The bureau and the JSO currently work together to manage the SDF.
The panel proposed setting up a defense council under the minister that would consist of political appointees and civilian and uniformed ministry staff.
The panel also envisions scrapping the post of defense counselors, a system long criticized for causing ineffectiveness in the ministry's work as bureaucrats who have insufficient expertise are given the posts to handle SDF-related matters as key aides to the defense minister.
The panel under Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura also proposed that an SDF officer lead a group of bureaucrats as chief of a division of the ministry while maintaining the current structure of the ministry involving both bureaucrats and SDF officers largely intact.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. adviser Nobuya Minami, who heads the panel, presented the report to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. Other panel members include academics and retired defense bureaucrats.
If realized, it would be the first drastic structural reform of the ministry since its predecessor Defense Agency was launched in 1954. The agency was upgraded to a full ministry last year.
It remains uncertain whether the proposed reform plans will actually be implemented as it would require onerous work including revisions of the Defense Ministry Establishment Law and SDF Law with the backing of the opposition camp, which controls the upper house.
The chief Cabinet secretary set up the panel last year after a spate of scandals involving the ministry and SDF such as a collusion scandal involving former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa Moriya and the alleged mishandling of data including intelligence in the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
A key item of the proposals is to do away with the ministry's Operational Policy Bureau, a section of bureaucrats, and let the ministry's Joint Staff Office, consisting mostly of uniformed officers, manage SDF units under orders of the defense minister.
The bureau and the JSO currently work together to manage the SDF.
The panel proposed setting up a defense council under the minister that would consist of political appointees and civilian and uniformed ministry staff.
The panel also envisions scrapping the post of defense counselors, a system long criticized for causing ineffectiveness in the ministry's work as bureaucrats who have insufficient expertise are given the posts to handle SDF-related matters as key aides to the defense minister.
