Intelligence agency - information agency

Japanese: 情報機関 - じょうほうきかん

A national organization that collects, analyzes, and evaluates public and private information on opposing camps or countries or forces considered potential enemies so that the government, military, and others can make decisions and take measures appropriate to the situation. Sometimes it also targets information on allies and neutral countries. In addition to foreign information, some intelligence agencies also target domestic information. The activities of intelligence agencies are kept secret, but in some countries, like the United States, only the leaders are made public, and in other countries, they are kept secret. After the Cold War, the roles and functions of intelligence agencies were reviewed, and with the backing of public opinion and movements calling for information disclosure, not only are the total budgets of intelligence agencies published, as in the United States, but classified materials are also being made public, as the Advisory Committee recommended, stating that "a flood of secrecy will only harm the nation, not protect it" (1 million pages of documents made public in 1998).

Since ancient times, all state powers have had intelligence agencies in some form, but it was only in the 20th century that intelligence agencies became important national agencies and took charge of wide-ranging intelligence activities as they are today. Until World War I, wars were mainly carried out by standing armies, but during World War I, wars became total wars in which human and material capabilities were mobilized, and the outcome of the war was determined not only by military power but also by productivity, human resources, social conditions, and national psychology. For this reason, the warring nations were forced to collect and analyze this information, and how to utilize or control the mass media became important. This tendency intensified during World War II, and intelligence activities became unprecedented in scale and diversity, and intelligence agencies grew into powerful organizations. The importance of intelligence activities increased further with the intensification of the Cold War after World War II, and intelligence agencies became more sophisticated and larger. Furthermore, as a result of the review of roles after the Cold War, the role of intelligence agencies in major developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Germany, and China was expanded to include collecting economic and high-tech information.

[Shigeo Hayashi]

Functions and Missions

Intelligence agency activities can be broadly categorized by function into: (1) information gathering and espionage activities; (2) counterintelligence activities - defending against and neutralizing enemy intelligence activities and sabotage; (3) counterintelligence activities - actively investigating and neutralizing enemy intelligence activities; and (4) covert operations - sabotage, deception, subversion, etc.

The most important task is (1), which is to collect public or private information and add specialized knowledge, background information, or scientific analysis to it in order to facilitate and make effective government decisions. The "raw information" collected through intelligence gathering and espionage activities is called information, while "finished information" is obtained by examining and analyzing the "raw information" based on the reliability of the source and the accuracy of the information, and comparing and judging it with information on the same topic that experts have already obtained. In addition to being used in foreign and defense policies, "finished information" is distributed in a timely manner to the media and others as official material in order to shape public opinion, shape international public opinion, and influence the policy decisions of foreign governments.

Intelligence gathering is the gathering of information from public sources such as foreign newspapers, magazines, books, television, radio and other mass media, specialized magazines on military technology, science, economics, etc., and government announcements and publications, while espionage is the obtaining of information that a foreign country keeps secret through clandestine and illegal means. Intelligence gathering is mainly carried out by the central intelligence agency directly under the President or Prime Minister, and the intelligence organizations of the Ministry of Defense, the military, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

All political and military actions can be divided into three stages: policy decision, policy preparation, and policy execution. However, the collection and analysis of public information can only reveal information up to the policy preparation and execution stages at best, so information related to policy decisions must be obtained through intelligence activities. For a long time, intelligence activities have relied on spies, but in recent years, in addition to spies, intelligence activities using reconnaissance satellites, strategic reconnaissance aircraft, and electronic and radio information receiving devices have come to be used. In the wake of terrorist activities and the intensification of conflicts after the Cold War, the role of human spies has been given renewed importance.

COMINT is an abbreviation for communications intelligence, which detects the other party's communication system, intercepts the communication between the sender and the receiver, and obtains information by analyzing the communication. ELINT is an abbreviation for electronics intelligence, which intercepts and analyzes radio waves other than those emitted by the other party's radar, friendly identification signals, and radio navigation beacons, and detects the sender, their character, and their location. Well-known organizations in this field include the National Security Agency (NSA) of the Department of Defense of the United States, the 8th Headquarters of the Committee of State Security of the Soviet Union (KGB Communications Headquarters), and the Department of Defense Intelligence (DIS) of the United Kingdom, and in Japan, the Radio Department of the Intelligence Headquarters of the Ministry of Defense (formerly the Investigation Division of the Second Investigation Section of the Ground Staff Office) is in charge.

(2) Counterintelligence and security activities refers to all activities that contribute to the protection of military secrets and the maintenance of security against sabotage of the national system, such as the detection of the organization, methods, and objectives of enemy intelligence agencies, and the handling of suspected cases occurring within one's own country's surveillance zone. In addition to military counterintelligence organizations, many countries have specialized organizations for domestic counterintelligence. These include the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States, the Security Service (SS) of the Home Office in the United Kingdom, the Department of Home Security (DST) of the Ministry of the Interior in France, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bfv) in Germany, and the Second Headquarters of the KGB in the Soviet Union. In Japan, the police security and public safety departments, the Self-Defense Forces' military police force, investigative unit, and the Public Security Intelligence Agency are responsible for counterintelligence.

(3) Counterintelligence activities are offensive activities, unlike defensive counterintelligence and security activities, and are aimed at detecting the plans of enemy intelligence agencies, monitoring their movements, and taking planned measures to neutralize the enemy's intentions. They penetrate the enemy's spy network, use counter espionage and manipulate false information to obtain information about the enemy's intentions and plans, or to make them take unfavorable actions.

(4) Covert operations are generally conducted only during wartime, but in recent times they have also been conducted in peacetime. Although they are both covert activities, a distinction can be made between covert operations and disguised operations. Covert operations are concealed and not masked. Disguised operations are not concealed and are masked. The former are often conducted during wartime, while the latter are conducted in peacetime. Furthermore, these two types of operations are often used together.

The central intelligence agencies of major countries, such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States, the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) of the United Kingdom, the Directorate General for External Security (DGSE) of France, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) of Germany, and the Committee for State Security (KGB) of the Soviet Union, were in charge of activities (1), (3), and (4) (the KGB was (1), (2), (3), and (4)). After the collapse of the Soviet Union, under the Yeltsin administration, the KGB was once divided and reduced into the Federal Foreign Intelligence Service, the Federal Counterintelligence Service, and the Federal Border Guard Service, but in April 1995, under the same administration, the Federal Counterintelligence Service was reorganized as the Federal Security Service (FSB), and its authority was significantly strengthened, including controlling almost all security and investigative agencies and conducting foreign intelligence activities. There are concerns about the revival of a powerful security agency similar to the KGB. Each country has a central intelligence agency, as well as a leadership organization that coordinates the intelligence activities of each military force and various intelligence agencies.

Many countries' intelligence and counterintelligence organizations and their operations are essentially similar. Well-known central intelligence agencies include Israel's Shin Beth (commonly known as Mossad, after the pre-state secret service Mossad Realiya Bet), and South Korea's KCIA (which was renamed the National Security Planning Agency in 1981).

[Shigeo Hayashi]

Japanese Intelligence Agency

In pre-war Japan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Army and Navy and their special agencies were responsible for collecting and analyzing information, the Military Police and the Special Higher Police were responsible for counterintelligence, and spies and conspiracy personnel were trained at Nakano School. One year before the start of the Pacific War, the Cabinet Intelligence Bureau (upgraded from the Cabinet Intelligence Department) was established to consolidate information from the Army and Navy, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Home Affairs, and to control and strengthen censorship of domestic and international propaganda.

After the Second World War, with the peace treaty and independence, the intelligence activities of the Cabinet Research Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Public Security Intelligence Agency, and the Public Security and Security Police were revived, and with the progress of rearmament, the intelligence activities of the Self-Defense Forces were strengthened, and a research school for training intelligence personnel was also established. In the 1990s, when the movement from an economic powerhouse to a political and military powerhouse intensified, the Cabinet Research Office was strengthened to the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, and further to the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Center. In addition, in order to centrally collect and analyze domestic and foreign information, a joint intelligence council consisting of the intelligence agencies of the Cabinet, Foreign Affairs, Defense, Police, and Public Security was launched. The construction of intelligent buildings (buildings that concentrate intelligence and communication functions) by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs respectively shows that the foreign intelligence gathering capabilities of the Self-Defense Forces and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been dramatically strengthened. Furthermore, the possession of reconnaissance satellites and electronic reconnaissance aircraft is being promoted.

[Shigeo Hayashi]

"International Intelligence War" by Hideo Aoki (1982, PHP Institute)" ▽ "Intelligence War" by William V. Kennedy et al., translated by Nobuhiko Ochiai (1985, Kobunsha)" ▽ "Germany's Secret Intelligence Agency" by Shinichiro Sekine (Kodansha Gendai Shinsho)

[References] | KGB | CIA | Spies

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

政府、軍、その他が情勢に適応した決定や措置をとれるように、対立する陣営あるいは仮想敵とみなす国や勢力に関する公開・非公開の情報を収集し、分析、評価する国家機関。ときには同盟国や中立的な国に関する情報を対象とすることもある。情報機関には、対外情報のほかに国内を対象としたものもある。情報機関の活動は秘密にされているが、その指導者だけがアメリカのように公にされている国と、逆に秘密にされている国とがある。冷戦後は、情報機関の役割と機能の見直しがなされ、情報公開を求める世論と運動をバックに、アメリカのように、情報機関の総予算を公表するだけでなく、「機密の氾濫(はんらん)は、国家を守るどころか害するだけ」（諮問委員会勧告）として機密資料も公開されつつある（1998年中に100万ページの文書公開）。

　情報機関は古代以来、国家権力がすべてなんらかの形で具備していたが、今日のように重要な国家機関として、広範な情報活動を担当するようになったのは20世紀に入ってからである。第一次世界大戦までは主として常備軍によって遂行される戦争であったが、第一次世界大戦を通じて戦争は人的・物的能力を総動員する総力戦となり、軍事力だけでなく、生産力、人的資源、社会状態、国民心理が戦争の勝敗を左右するようになった。このため戦争当事国はこれらの情報を収集、分析する必要に迫られ、さらにマスコミをいかに利用し、または統制するかが重要になったからである。第二次世界大戦ではこの傾向がさらに強まり、情報活動は歴史上例をみない規模と多様性をもつものとなり、情報機関は強大な組織に成長した。第二次世界大戦後の冷戦激化によって情報活動の重要性はさらに高まり、情報機関は精緻(せいち)化され、ますます大きくなった。さらに、冷戦後の役割見直しで、アメリカ、イギリス、ロシア、フランス、ドイツ、中国など先進大国の情報機関の役割には、新たに経済・ハイテク技術情報の収集が加わった。

［林　茂夫］

機能と任務

情報機関の活動を機能別に分類すれば、(1)情報収集と諜報(ちょうほう)活動、(2)防諜保安活動＝敵の諜報活動および破壊工作に対する防御、無害化、(3)対諜報活動＝敵の諜報活動に対する積極的な解明と無力化、(4)秘密工作活動＝破壊工作、欺瞞(ぎまん)工作、転覆工作など、に大別される。

　もっとも重要な任務は(1)で、公開あるいは非公開の情報を収集し、政府が所要の決定をやりやすくし、かつ有効ならしめるために、その情報に専門的な知識、背景情報、あるいは科学的分析を加えることである。情報収集と諜報活動で集められた「生の情報」は情報資料（インフォーメーション）とよばれ、「生の情報」を情報源の信頼性、情報資料の正確度に基づいて検討、分析し、専門家がすでに入手している同じ項目の情報資料と比較、判定した「完成した情報」は情報（インテリジェンス）とよばれる。「完成した情報」は外交、防衛政策に活用されるほか、国民世論の形成、国際世論の形成、外国政府の政策決定に影響力を与えるために、公式資料としてマスコミその他にタイミングよく配布、活用される。

　情報収集とは、外国の新聞、雑誌、書籍、テレビジョン、ラジオなどのマス・メディア、軍事技術、科学、経済などの専門誌紙、政府の発表・公表資料など、公にされている情報源から情報資料を集めることで、諜報活動とは、外国が秘密にしている情報資料を非公然、不法な手段で入手することである。大統領もしくは首相直属の中央情報機関、国防省・軍・外務省の情報組織などがおもに担当している。

　あらゆる政治的・軍事的行動は、方針の決定、方針の準備、方針の実行の3段階に分けうるが、公開情報の収集・分析では、せいぜい方針の準備・実行の段階までしかわからないので、方針の決定に関する情報は諜報活動に頼らざるをえない。古くから諜報活動の手段はスパイに依存していたが、最近ではスパイに加えて、偵察衛星や戦略偵察機、電子・電波情報受信装置を活用した諜報活動が重用されている。冷戦後のテロ活動や紛争激化のなかで、改めて人間のスパイの役割が重視されている。

　コミント（COMINT）は、相手側の通信系統を探知し、その送受信者間の交信を傍受して、通信分析によって情報を得る通信情報（コミュニケーション・インテリジェンス）の略称。エリント（ELINT）は、相手側のレーダー、味方識別信号、航法用無電標識などによる交信用以外の輻射(ふくしゃ)電波を傍受、分析し、発信者・性格とその所在位置を探知する電子情報（エレクトロニクス・インテリジェンス）の略称。この分野の担当組織ではアメリカの国防総省国家安全保障局（NSA）、ソ連の国家保安委員会第8本部（KGB通信本部）、イギリスの国防省情報部（DIS）が知られ、日本では防衛省情報本部電波部（前身は陸幕(りくばく)調査第二課調査別室）が担当している。

　(2)の防諜保安活動は、敵の情報機関の組織、活動方法、活動目標の探知、自国の監視区域内で起こる容疑事件の処理など、軍事機密保護と国家体制の破壊工作などに対する保全維持に役だつすべての活動をいう。担当機関は軍の防諜組織のほか、多くの国が国内防諜の専門組織をもっている。アメリカの連邦捜査局（FBI）、イギリスの内務省保安部（SS）、フランスの内務省国土保安局（DST）、ドイツの連邦憲法擁護庁（Bfv）、ソ連のKGB第2本部がそれである。日本では警察の警備公安部門、自衛隊の警務隊、調査隊、公安調査庁が担当している。

　(3)の対諜報活動は、防御的な防諜保安活動と違い攻撃的な活動で、敵の情報機関の諸計画を探知し、その動静を監視し、計画的に対策をたてて敵の意図を無力化することを目的にしている。敵のスパイ網の中に入り込み、逆スパイの運用、偽情報の操作などにより、敵の意図や計画を手に入れたり、不利な行動をとらせるようにする。

　(4)の秘密工作活動は、一般的には戦時にだけ展開されるが、最近は平時にも行われている。同じ秘密活動でも、秘密工作と偽装された工作とは区別される。秘密工作は隠蔽(いんぺい)されたものであって仮面をつけたものではない。偽装された工作は隠蔽されたものではなく仮面をつけたものである。前者は戦時に多く行われ、後者は平時に行われる。またこの二つの工作形態はしばしば併用される。

　アメリカの中央情報局（CIA）、イギリスの秘密情報部（SIS）、フランスの対外保安本部（DGSE）、ドイツの連邦情報局（BND）、ソ連の国家保安委員会（KGB）など主要国の中央情報機関は、(1)(3)(4)の活動を担当していた（KGBは(1)(2)(3)(4)）。ソ連崩壊後、エリツィン政権下でKGBは連邦対外諜報局、連邦防諜局、連邦国境警備局にいったん分割縮小されたが、同政権下で1995年4月に連邦防諜局は連邦保安局（FSB）に改組され、ほぼすべての治安、捜査機関を統制下に置くとともに、対外諜報活動も行うなど、大幅に権限を強化された。KGBと同じような強大な保安機関の復活が懸念されている。各国ともに中央情報機関を含め、各軍、各種の情報機関の情報活動を調整する指導機関がある。

　多くの国の情報機関、防諜組織とその活動も、本質的にほぼ同じ要領で行われている。名の知られている中央情報機関に、建国前の秘密機関モサド・レアリヤ・ベトに由来してモサドと通称されるイスラエルのシン・ベス（SHIN　BETH）と、韓国のKCIA（1981年に国家安全企画部と改称）がある。

［林　茂夫］

日本の情報機関

敗戦前の日本では、情報収集と分析は外務省、陸海軍とその特務機関、防諜は憲兵と特高警察が担当し、スパイ・謀略工作要員の養成は中野学校で行われた。太平洋戦争開始の1年前に、陸海軍、外務・内務両省の情報を総合し、対内外宣伝の統制、検閲強化のため内閣情報局（内閣情報部を昇格）が設立された。

　第二次世界大戦後は講和・独立を機に、内閣調査室、外務省、公安調査庁、公安・警備警察の情報活動が復活し、再軍備の進展とともに自衛隊の情報活動も強化され、情報要員養成の調査学校も設立された。経済大国から政治・軍事大国化への動きが強まった1990年代に入って、内閣調査室は内閣情報調査室へ、さらに内閣情報集約センターへと強化された。また一元的に内外情報を収集・分析するために、内閣、外務、防衛、警察、公安の情報機関で構成する合同情報会議が発足した。防衛省、外務省それぞれによるインテリジェント・ビル（情報、通信機能を集中したビル）建設は、自衛隊、外務省の対外情報収集能力が飛躍的に強化されたことを示している。そしてさらに偵察衛星・電子偵察機などの保有が推進されようとしている。

［林　茂夫］

『青木日出雄著『国際諜報戦争』（1982・PHP研究所）』▽『ウィリアム・V・ケネディ他著、落合信彦訳『諜報戦争』（1985・光文社）』▽『関根伸一郎著『ドイツの秘密情報機関』（講談社現代新書）』

[参照項目] | KGB | CIA | スパイ

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例

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