Friday, April 25, 2008Kyodo News
A Liberal Democratic Party panel on Defense Ministry reforms endorsed a set of proposals Thursday that include the appointment of a Self-Defense Forces officer as an aide to the prime minister.
The move is viewed as an attempt to strengthen the power of military officers in the civilian-dominated ministry.
The subcommittee of the LDP's Research Commission on Security also proposed upgrading the status of the chief of the ministry's Joint Staff Office, and setting up a command center under the SDF chief so the JSO chief can directly operate an SDF unit without going through the chiefs of the three SDF branches.
The ministry's Operational Policy Bureau, a key section that consists of bureaucrats, should be scrapped and the JSO, which comprises uniformed officers, should include civilians, the subcommittee said.
Former vice defense chief Yasukazu Hamada, who heads the subcommittee, told a news conference the proposals are chiefly aimed at speeding up the decision-making process in emergencies.
He said the proposals should be included in the government's final plan to reform the ministry. A panel headed by Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura is seeking to compile the plan around the end of June.
The subcommittee will present the proposals to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba after winning final LDP approval, Hamada said, without elaborating on the timing.
Posts
