HUMINT Operations Abroad: Challenges to Japan’s Intelligence Services

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore a rather hypothetical assumption about Japan’s intelligence capabilities and the perspective of the emergence of case officers capable to run human intelligence (HUMINT) operations abroad. To examine this notion, the article first draws on the concept of intelligence culture and defines and analyzes the key attributes of an outstanding case officer as seen by top-tier intelligence agencies. Then, the study provides a brief overview of the historical development of the Japanese experience with HUMINT from the beginning of the twentieth century until the present. The final section dwells in bigger detail on the current state of affairs of Japan’s Intelligence Community and concludes that much importance should be paid to spotting and training the nation’s case officers.