Photo/Illutration Members of the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s unit responsible for cyberattacks and the U.S. Marine Corps conduct joint drills in June. (From the website of the Maritime Self-Defense Force)

To bolster the nation's defenses against cyberattacks, the government plans to add an "active cyberdefense" to its security policies along with dramatically increasing the number of Ground Self-Defense Force cyberexperts.

The government said at a meeting of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Dec. 5 that it will include the introduction of an active cyberdefense in the three key national security policy documents that it is currently revising.

An active cyberdefense is an initiative to prevent cyberattacks before they occur.

The government plans to increase the number of Self-Defense Force members who are experts in this area from around 800 to about 4,000, the government said.

It also said that it will increase the number of SDF members with the capability to deal with cyberdefense issues to around 20,000.

In the area of active cyberdefense, the government is considering monitoring cyberspace 24 hours a day.

If a possible cyberattack is detected, the government is considering infiltrating the potential attacker’s system or server and neutralizing the prospective attack, or launching counterattacks.

However, such measures could violate Article 21 of the Constitution, which protects the secrecy of communications, the Telecommunications Business Law, or Prohibition of Unauthorized Computer Access Law.

Therefore, the ruling coalition hasn’t had advanced discussions aimed at creating a system to give Japan such active cyberdefense capabilities.

During the meeting on Dec. 5, the government also announced its intention to rename two of the three national security policy documents.

“The National Defense Program Guidelines,” which is an outline of Japan’s defense program, will be renamed “the National Defense Strategy” and will show how Japan will enhance its defense capabilities in the mid- and long term.

“The Mid-Term Defense Program” will be renamed “the Defense Capability Enhancement Plan” and will be a document to implement the National Defense Strategy.

During the meeting, the government discussed areas that it wants to fundamentally enhance through the Defense Capability Enhancement Plan and other means.

On the defense setup in southwest Japan, the government has decided to expand the 15th Brigade of the Ground Self-Defense Force stationed at the GSDF’s Naha Camp in Okinawa Prefecture. 

According to government sources, the government plans to increase the number of brigade members from the current 2,000 to about 3,000.

It will also upgrade the rank of the brigade leader from major general to general to give the responsibility for the “protection of the public,” including ensuring the evacuation of people in the event of an emergency, to the top officer in charge.

The government is considering renaming the 15th Brigade “the Okinawa Defense Division” or something similar, because it will be a higher organization within the GSDF and will be more like a division than a brigade.

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