ID :
34990
Wed, 12/10/2008 - 22:36
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/34990
The shortlink copeid
Uniformed officers` authority over SDF ops to be strengthened
TOKYO, Dec. 10 Kyodo - The authority of uniformed officers will be strengthened in operating Self-Defense Forces units as was previously proposed, according to the Defense Ministry's basic policy on ministry reform, the text of which was obtained by Kyodo News on Wednesday.
To curb the roles bureaucrats have played in managing SDF units and enable
other changes, the ministry hopes to submit related bills to a regular session
of the Diet in 2010.
But the proposed changes could arouse criticism over the robustness of civilian
control in light of the dismissal of Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen.
Toshio Tamogami who in an essay openly disagreed with the government's defense
policy and stance on Japan's wartime acts.
The basic policy represents the second phase of Japan's defense administration
reform being formulated following a spate of scandals and lapses involving the
ministry and the SDF, such as collusion involving former Vice Defense Minister
Takemasa Moriya and the fatal collision of an Aegis destroyer and a fishing
boat.
The policy, although tweaked following the public outcry over the essay, on the
whole towed the lines recommended in July by a government panel headed by then
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura.
Under the policy, the ministry's Operational Policy Bureau, a section comprised
of civilian bureaucrats, will be abolished, and the work of managing SDF units
hitherto undertaken by the bureau will be transferred to the ministry's Joint
Staff Office, consisting mostly of uniformed officers.
That means uniformed officers could play a leading role in coming up with rules
of engagement, including the conditions for the use of arms, and coordinating
with ministries and lawmakers as well as consulting with the United States and
the United Nations.
The policy, however, refrains from stipulating whether uniformed officers
should be allowed to speak at the Diet to explain defense policies -- a
practice basically eschewed by successive governments so far.
Although not in the panel recommendations, the emphasis is likely to be added
to the policy on the need to provide SDF personnel with balanced, neutral
education in light of fresh criticism that lecturers on history and the nation
teaching at an SDF academy hold unbalanced historical views, according to a
government source.
Also proposed in the policy is the creation of a new section within the
bureaucracy that will aggregate the equipment buildup planning sections in the
ground, air and maritime staff offices as well as the bureaucracy.
An SDF officer will also be assigned to the post of a deputy director general
of the ministry's Defense Policy Bureau to enable the officer's first-hand
knowledge to be directly reflected on the planning of defense policy at the
ministry.
On Wednesday, Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima criticized the
reform plan, saying it is problematic because the position of uniformed
officers would be strengthened.
''If the operation of the SDF is transferred to the uniform group from the suit
group, there will be no civilian control,'' the opposition party leader said at
a news conference, referring to uniform-wearing SDF officers and business
suit-clad civilian officials.
Fukushima said she plans to raise the issue in the Diet.
In August, the Defense Ministry finalized plans to submit legislation to the
regular session of the Diet next year to implement the first phase of ministry
reform in line with the panel's recommendations.
The key items in the phase include scrapping the post of defense counselor --
the key aide to the defense minister -- filled by bureaucrats and long
criticized as a source of ineffectiveness in handling SDF-related matters due
to their lack of expertise.
Another is the creation of a defense council under the minister comprising
political appointees, and civilian and uniformed ministry staff. It will be the
highest deliberative body in the ministry.
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.
==Kyodo
To curb the roles bureaucrats have played in managing SDF units and enable
other changes, the ministry hopes to submit related bills to a regular session
of the Diet in 2010.
But the proposed changes could arouse criticism over the robustness of civilian
control in light of the dismissal of Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Gen.
Toshio Tamogami who in an essay openly disagreed with the government's defense
policy and stance on Japan's wartime acts.
The basic policy represents the second phase of Japan's defense administration
reform being formulated following a spate of scandals and lapses involving the
ministry and the SDF, such as collusion involving former Vice Defense Minister
Takemasa Moriya and the fatal collision of an Aegis destroyer and a fishing
boat.
The policy, although tweaked following the public outcry over the essay, on the
whole towed the lines recommended in July by a government panel headed by then
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura.
Under the policy, the ministry's Operational Policy Bureau, a section comprised
of civilian bureaucrats, will be abolished, and the work of managing SDF units
hitherto undertaken by the bureau will be transferred to the ministry's Joint
Staff Office, consisting mostly of uniformed officers.
That means uniformed officers could play a leading role in coming up with rules
of engagement, including the conditions for the use of arms, and coordinating
with ministries and lawmakers as well as consulting with the United States and
the United Nations.
The policy, however, refrains from stipulating whether uniformed officers
should be allowed to speak at the Diet to explain defense policies -- a
practice basically eschewed by successive governments so far.
Although not in the panel recommendations, the emphasis is likely to be added
to the policy on the need to provide SDF personnel with balanced, neutral
education in light of fresh criticism that lecturers on history and the nation
teaching at an SDF academy hold unbalanced historical views, according to a
government source.
Also proposed in the policy is the creation of a new section within the
bureaucracy that will aggregate the equipment buildup planning sections in the
ground, air and maritime staff offices as well as the bureaucracy.
An SDF officer will also be assigned to the post of a deputy director general
of the ministry's Defense Policy Bureau to enable the officer's first-hand
knowledge to be directly reflected on the planning of defense policy at the
ministry.
On Wednesday, Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima criticized the
reform plan, saying it is problematic because the position of uniformed
officers would be strengthened.
''If the operation of the SDF is transferred to the uniform group from the suit
group, there will be no civilian control,'' the opposition party leader said at
a news conference, referring to uniform-wearing SDF officers and business
suit-clad civilian officials.
Fukushima said she plans to raise the issue in the Diet.
In August, the Defense Ministry finalized plans to submit legislation to the
regular session of the Diet next year to implement the first phase of ministry
reform in line with the panel's recommendations.
The key items in the phase include scrapping the post of defense counselor --
the key aide to the defense minister -- filled by bureaucrats and long
criticized as a source of ineffectiveness in handling SDF-related matters due
to their lack of expertise.
Another is the creation of a defense council under the minister comprising
political appointees, and civilian and uniformed ministry staff. It will be the
highest deliberative body in the ministry.
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.
==Kyodo
