情報活動の司令塔「国家情報局」が発足

Welcome to Japanese Daily News. I'm Maya. Today is August first. Japan has just launched a new intelligence agency — a single command center for gathering and analyzing information about national security and diplomacy. Let's listen.

Now let's break it down, sentence by sentence.

Yesterday, July thirty-first, a new organization called the National Intelligence Bureau was launched. It gathers and analyzes information related to national security and diplomacy.

It means the launch or start of a new organization.

Until now, many different bodies — the foreign ministry, the defense ministry, the police agency and others — collected diplomatic and security information separately.

It means an organization or a body.

But information was not shared well between organizations, and critics warned that important information might not reach the prime minister quickly.

It means sharing something, like information, with others.

So the government decided to create the new bureau as a command center that pulls the scattered information together.

It literally means a control tower — a role that directs and coordinates everything.

The bureau has about seven hundred thirty staff members in seven departments, including ones for analysis and for economic information.

It means analysis — examining information carefully to understand it.

The center that uses satellites to observe conditions in other countries also became part of the new bureau.

It means an artificial satellite.

Hara Kazuya, a former police official who has served as the cabinet's top intelligence officer, became the bureau's first director.

It means taking up an official post or position.

The government also plans to strengthen intelligence gathering in areas like economic security and countering false information online.

It means a policy or planned course of action.

How the government will use the new bureau's information in its policies is now being watched closely.

It means to make good use of something.

Let's listen to the whole story one more time.

Time for a short quiz. Listen and try to answer.

The National Intelligence Bureau, created out of the former cabinet intelligence office.

About seven hundred thirty people, working in seven departments.

That's all for today. Japan launched its new National Intelligence Bureau on July thirty-first, bringing together security and diplomatic intelligence that used to be scattered across many agencies. It has about seven hundred thirty staff, and it supports a new council led by the prime minister that met for the first time the same day. Thanks for listening, and see you tomorrow.