Concerns Growing over State Secrecy Legislation

Tokyo, Dec. 2 (Jiji Press)--The controversial state secrecy bill that the ruling coalition railroaded through the House of Representatives last week has aroused strong protests from critics, who fear it would make Japan an Orwellian society. Atsushi Koketsu, vice president of Yamaguchi University and a historian familiar with Japan's postwar state secrecy system, likens the proposed law to a "transparent, invisible wall." The analogy suggests that the public will be unable to gain access to important state information. Although people may be unaware of the wall in everyday life, they would find it too high to climb over if they were to try. "There were always moves to tighten the protection of secrets before war," Koketsu said, referring to military information protection laws before the Russo-Japanese War in the early 1900s and the Pacific War in the 1940s. The government is seeking early passage of the bill because of the U.S. government's request for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces to take part in "high-level military operations," he added. Koketsu also said the legislation would create "a crooked surveillance society," very different from a mature society, because the government would "arbitrarily" classify information as secrets and be unaccountable. According to the bill, the heads of administrative organs will be allowed to designate as special state secrets what they see as confidential information related to national defense, diplomacy, espionage and terrorism. If government officials leak such information, they will face up to 10 years in prison, much tougher than the penalties set under the existing National Public Service Act and the SDF law. Masaharu Isshiki, a former Japan Coast Guard official who posted online footage of collisions between a Chinese trawler and two JCG patrol boats near the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in 2010, calls for establishing "a mechanism to assess whether the designation (of special state secrets) is appropriate or not." Critics warn that the proposed law, if enacted, could violate popular sovereignty and basic human rights, such as the right to know, because the proposed scope of designations is vague. But Isshiki, 46, said that the legislation will not prevent determined whistle-blowers from leaking confidential information. Iku Aso, an author familiar with espionage and police activities, views the law as a step toward Japan becoming a "normal country," noting that Japan failed to centrally manage information received from U.S. and European intelligence agencies following the coordinated terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. But Aso said that while the U.S. and European countries examine information closely for classification as state secrets by assigning a huge number of officials to such work, it is "physically impossible" for Japan to do this because of its lack of manpower. He also warned that if journalists uncover and report confidential state information, the justification of such coverage may be subjected to investigations by law enforcement authorities. Current deliberations in the Diet, or parliament, on whether news organizations will be raided by authorities are "abnormal," he added. The bill is expected to sail through the House of Councillors for enactment before for the current Diet session ends on Friday. END