We open today’s tales from the dark side with a demand via The Intercept:
The Bahamas Wants to Know Why the NSA is Recording Its Phone Calls
Government officials in the Bahamas want their U.S. counterparts to explain why the National Security Agency has been intercepting and recording every cell phone call taking place on the island nation.
Responding to a report published by The Intercept on Monday, which revealed that the NSA has been targeting the Bahamas’ entire mobile network and storing the audio of every phone call traversing the network for up to 30 days, Bahamian officials told the Nassau Guardian that they had contacted the U.S. and vowed to release a statement regarding the revelations.
In a front-page story published Tuesday, Bahamian Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell told the Guardian that his government had reached out to the U.S. for an explanation. Mitchell said the cabinet was set to meet to discuss the matter and planned to issue a statement on the surveillance. The Bahamian minister of national security told the paper he intended to launch an inquiry into the NSA’s surveillance but did not provide a comment.
The New York Times parses spookery:
Fine Line Seen in U.S. Spying on Companies
The National Security Agency has never said what it was seeking when it invaded the computers of Petrobras, Brazil’s huge national oil company, but angry Brazilians have guesses: the company’s troves of data on Brazil’s offshore oil reserves, or perhaps its plans for allocating licenses for exploration to foreign companies.
Nor has the N.S.A. said what it intended when it got deep into the computer systems of China Telecom, one of the largest providers of mobile phone and Internet services in Chinese cities. But documents released by Edward J. Snowden, the former agency contractor now in exile in Russia, leave little doubt that the main goal was to learn about Chinese military units, whose members cannot resist texting on commercial networks.
The agency’s interest in Huawei, the giant Chinese maker of Internet switching equipment, and Pacnet, the Hong Kong-based operator of undersea fiber optic cables, is more obvious: Once inside those companies’ proprietary technology, the N.S.A. would have access to millions of daily conversations and emails that never touch American shores.
Then there is Joaquín Almunia, the antitrust commissioner of the European Commission. He runs no company, but has punished many, including Microsoft and Intel, and just reached a tentative accord with Google that will greatly change how it operates in Europe.
In each of these cases, American officials insist, when speaking off the record, that the United States was never acting on behalf of specific American companies. But the government does not deny it routinely spies to advance American economic advantage, which is part of its broad definition of how it protects American national security. In short, the officials say, while the N.S.A. cannot spy on Airbus and give the results to Boeing, it is free to spy on European or Asian trade negotiators and use the results to help American trade officials — and, by extension, the American industries and workers they are trying to bolster.
From Agence France Presse, taking it on the road:
Eric Holder To Discuss NSA Spying Scandal In Germany
US Attorney General Eric Holder will travel to Germany to discuss privacy concerns after the NSA spying scandal damaged relations between the two allies, Germany said Wednesday.
German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere told journalists in Washington that Holder has accepted an invitation from Berlin to explain how the US would curb spying on foreign nationals overseas.
“We will have this discussion together in Germany,” he said.
The Christian Science Monitor raises a reasonable question:
US hacking charges against China for economic cyber-spying: Why now?
The US indictment of five military officials in China’s secret ‘Unit 61398′ aims to put China on notice but also plays to US corporate concerns that Washington has done too little to curb cyber threats.
While many believe it is unlikely those Chinese military officers will ever be extradited for trial in the US, the public outing of China’s military for engineering the cyber theft of the crown jewels of US companies’ intellectual property is the punitive part of a multipart “carrot and stick” policy the Obama administration adopted to deal with a problem shortly after it took office, these experts say.
In the administration’s early days, cyber threats were already a priority. But by 2010, cyber espionage had vaulted to the top of the list. The next year, a nonpublic internal federal review determined that “China’s economic espionage activities were greater than all others combined, including Russia,” says James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
By early 2013, the US and China had agreed to regular diplomatic talks – a cyber working group – that was one of the White House “carrots” designed to deal with sensitive cyber issues behind closed doors. In those talks, the US told Chinese representatives that using the powerful state-controlled military to conduct cyber-espionage operations against hundreds of US corporations was unacceptable.
From the Associated Press, stupid is as stupid does:
U.S. hacking victims fell prey to slapstick, mundane ruses
The hacking techniques the U.S. government says China used against American companies turned out to be disappointingly mundane, tricking employees into opening e-mail attachments or clicking on innocent-looking website links.
The scariest part might be how successfully the ruses worked. With a mouse click or two, employees at big-name American makers of nuclear and solar technology gave away the keys to their computer networks.
In a 31-count indictment announced on Monday, the Justice Department said five Chinese military officials operating under hacker aliases such as “Ugly Gorilla,” “KandyGoo” and “Jack Sun” stole confidential business information, sensitive trade secrets and internal communications for competitive advantage. The United States identified the alleged victims as Alcoa World Alumina, Westinghouse, Allegheny Technologies, U.S. Steel, United Steelworkers Union and SolarWorld.
From the Verge, an embarrassment:
The US Navy was hacked from inside its own aircraft carrier
When the Navy Criminal Investigative Service started looking into a breach of one of their low-security networks, the team got an unpleasant surprise: at least one of the culprits was a Navy sailor, performing the attacks from an aircraft carrier at sea.
The hacking group called Team Digi7al breached at least 24 websites in 2012, including the Navy’s own SmartMove system, used to help sailors coordinate changes of address. The team was looking for social security numbers and other personal data, the raw material for identity theft, targeting sites like the Toronto Police Service and Stanford University. For the most part, the attacks were small enough to stay under the radar — but when a tweet posted to Team Digi7al’s Twitter account from an internal Navy network, NCIS realized the SmartMove attack had been an inside job, and sprang into action.
It took an elaborate sting operation to find Digi7al’s inside, including a fake database designed as an attractive target, but finally NCIS traced the breach back to Nicholas Paul Knight, the systems administrator for the nuclear reactor onboard the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier. On Tuesday, Knight plead guilty to charges of identity theft and obstruction of justice in federal court. He faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
A paradigm shifts from Homeland Security News Wire:
Snowden revelations spur a surge in encrypted e-mail services
The Edward Snowden revelations about National Security Agency(N.S.A) surveillance programs have fueled a surge of new e-mail encryption services. “A lot of people were upset with those revelations, and that coalesced into this effort,” said the co-developer of a new encrypted e-mail service which launched last Friday. The company notes that its servers are based in Switzerland, making it more difficult for U.S. law enforcement to reach them.
The Edward Snowden revelations about National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance programs have fueled a surge of new e-mail encryption services. “A lot of people were upset with those revelations, and that coalesced into this effort,” said Jason Stockman, a co-developer of ProtonMail, a new encrypted e-mail service which launched last Friday with collaboration from scientists from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the European research lab CERN.
Yahoo News reports that ProtonMail is marketed as user-friendly as major commercial e-mail services such as Google Gmail and Yahoo Mail, but it offers extra security. The company notes that its servers are based in Switzerland, making it more difficult for U.S. law enforcement to reach them. E-mail encryption has been a go-to-tool for dissident activists in China and Iran to avoid detection by the authorities, but the adoption of encryption services is now favored by many Americans who want to avoid surveillance from the NSA or other intelligence services.
From the Washington Post, a legacy for the University of California’s new president [former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano]:
Planned Homeland Security headquarters, long delayed and over budget, now in doubt
The construction of a massive new headquarters for the Department of Homeland Security, billed as critical for national security and the revitalization of Southeast Washington, is running more than $1.5 billion over budget, is 11 years behind schedule and may never be completed, according to planning documents and federal officials.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the George W. Bush administration called for a new, centralized headquarters to strengthen the department’s ability to coordinate the fight against terrorism and respond to natural disasters. More than 50 historic buildings would be renovated and new ones erected on the grounds of St. Elizabeths, a onetime insane asylum with a panoramic view of the District.
The entire complex was to be finished as early as this year, at a cost of less than $3 billion, according to the initial plan.
The Tribune Washington Bureau seeks release:
Obama administration to release drone memo on killing US citizens
President Barack Obama’s Justice Department will release a long-sought secret document laying out the legal basis for using drones to kill Americans suspected of terrorist activities abroad, administration officials confirmed Tuesday.
Rather than appeal a court order that the so-called “drone memo” be released under the Freedom of Information Act, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. concurred with the decision of Solicitor Gen. Donald Verrilli not to pursue the appeal and agreed to release a redacted version of the document, the officials said.
Officials requested anonymity to discuss the closed-door deliberations, first disclosed Tuesday by The Associated Press. The documents will be released later, pending court approval.
From CNN, an announcement with suspicious timing:
Stream of al Qaeda threats has U.S. intelligence concerned
A series of al Qaeda-based threats to attack American and Western targets in Europe, as well as threats to launch attacks inside the United States, has caused significant concern inside the U.S. intelligence community, CNN has learned.
Officials are trying to determine the extent to which the threats may be linked and determine what it may mean about the strength of al Qaeda in several countries. While the “threat stream” has evolved during the past six months, according to a senior U.S. official, none of the threats has been corroborated.
The official said the threats appear to detail “a lot of activity where intelligence suggests there are operational cells,” but so far, “we do not see operational cells of al Qaeda inside the United States,” the official said, although he emphasized it could not be ruled out.
From the Arizona Republic, about damn time:
FBI reverses no-recording policy for interrogations
Since the FBI began under President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, agents have not only shunned the use of tape recorders, they’ve been prohibited by policy from making audio and video records of statements by criminal suspects without special approval.
Now, after more than a century, the U.S. Department of Justice has quietly reversed that directive by issuing orders May 12 that video recording is presumptively required for interrogations of suspects in custody, with some exceptions.
There was no news release or press conference to announce the radical shift. But a DOJ memorandum —obtained by The Arizona Republic — spells out the changes to begin July 11.
From the Dept. of Oh, Puhleeeze via The Wire:
GOP Senator Does Not Think the FBI Director’s Weed Joke Was Very Funny
FBI Director James Comey made a weed joke earlier this week; turns out the Senate Judiciary Committee didn’t find it funny. Speaking at a conference on Monday, the FBI chief made headlines when he admitted that the agency is “grappling with the question” of whether it could be more open to hiring people who smoke pot, especially as the demand for cybercrime fighters increases.
What went mostly unreported was a little funny that Comey made when he added that some of the prospective hires “want to smoke weed on the way to the interview.”
Today we found out that Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions was not so amused:
Do you understand that that could be interpreted as one more example of leadership in America dismissing the seriousness of marijuana use and that could undermine our ability to convince young people not to go down a dangerous path?”
From the Boston Globe, with maximum security:
Ohio Prison Shows Pirated Movies to Prisoners Convicted of Pirating Movies
Pirated movies are being shown to Ohio inmates convicted for selling pirated films, according to Cleveland.com. The Lorain County Correctional Institution confirmed that prison officials know about the practice and that it’s being investigated.
Richard Humphrey, who was released on May 6 for a parole violation, posted on torrentfreak.com that guards let the inmates watch “Ride Along” and “The Wolf of Wall Street” before the films’ DVD releases. Humphrey faced a 29-month sentence in 2010 for selling pirated copies of movies on a subscription-based website.
From CNN, keeping kids secure from security people:
Cop, rabbi, scoutmaster among arrests in child porn bust
They are people children are supposed to trust: A New York Police Department officer, a Fire Department of New York paramedic, a rabbi and a scoutmaster were among more than 70 people arrested in a major child porn bust, a U.S. law enforcement official said Wednesday.
The police officer allegedly used the video chatting service Skype to have women pose their children naked for him, another law enforcement official said.
Another of those arrested — a supervisor with the Transportation Security Administration — allegedly traveled to the Dominican Republic to have sex with children, the official said. He allegedly made more than 50 trips there.
From Reuters, how much for a hack attack?:
EBay says client information stolen in hacking attack
E-commerce company eBay Inc said hackers stole email addresses, birthdays and other identity information between late February and early March in a data breach that may have affected a “large number” of accounts.
In the latest major cyber attack at a U.S. company, eBay said it had found no evidence of unauthorized access to financial or credit card information, which is stored separately in encrypted formats.
But the company urged all of its users, including the 145 million customers who bought or sold something on eBay in the last 12 months, to change their passwords.
Blowback blues from Global Times:
Microsoft ‘surprised’ at move to change systems
Windows 8 ban to aid security
In an e-mail to the Global Times, Microsoft said they are surprised by the news.
“Windows 8 has some unique back doors reserved by developers for later system upgrade and daily maintenance. The downside of the back doors is the potential risk of leaking sensitive personal information to developers or Internet hackers,” Zhang Yi, CEO of Shenzhen-based iiMedia Research, told the Global Times.
Zhang’s opinion was echoed by Ni Guangnan, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, who reportedly appealed that the government should not purchase Windows 8 devices.
Ni was quoted by China Electronics News as saying the new generation of Windows system would leave information vulnerable to monitoring from the US government, as shown in the scandal of PRISM.
More blowback from South China Morning Post:
US cyberespionage charges may cool Westinghouse’s China nuclear deal
Business ties at risk after Washington accuses five PLA officers of hacking
China may consider postponing negotiations for buying eight nuclear reactors from an American nuclear company embroiled in a US indictment of five PLA military officers for alleged cyberespionage, Chinese experts say.
The deal, together with parts and services, would potentially be worth more than 24 billion yuan (HK$30 billion) and create thousands of jobs.
Five cybertechnology experts, allegedly from the People’s Liberation Army’s Shanghai-based Unit 61398 that has been accused of being a major source of cyberattacks abroad, are now wanted by the FBI for hacking into a number of US firms, including Westinghouse Electric, the company tendering to supply the Chinese nuclear power plants.
And north of the border, and sure to move south, from CBC News:
La Ronde under fire for scanning visitors’ fingerprints
Quebec privacy commissioner says La Ronde has not been cleared to have biometric database
La Ronde, the Montreal amusement park owned by Six Flags, is scanning biometric data from its users to admit them to the park. The only problem is, it hasn’t been cleared to do so.
This year, the park brought in measures to scan what it calls “fingerpoints.” The scans of season-pass holders’ index fingers are then used to admit them to the amusement park.
“So what happens is season-pass owners come to the park, they have two options. Either they can do a traditional way, so they can get a season pass with picture or they can go through our new system, which is quicker,” La Ronde’s communications officer Jules Hébert told CBC Daybreak on Wednesday.
After the jump, the latest developments in the ongoing and ever-escalating Asian Games of Zones, with an emphasis on the latest efforts of to send Japan down Abe’s Road of rash remilitarization. . .
First up and from the Christian Science Monitor, another front heats up:
India scales up military forces on disputed China border
India is creating a mountain strike corps of 90,000 soldiers along the 2,000-mile stretch. Just last year Chinese troops entered territory claimed by India, sparking a three-week standoff.
India is raising a new mountain strike corps of nearly 90,000 soldiers to strengthen its defense along its disputed border with China in the high reaches of the Himalayas.
China will be a top foreign policy challenge for Narendra Modi, the incoming prime minister who won a landslide victory last week. Business ties between India and China are booming. But despite rounds of talks, the two countries have yet to resolve their decades-old dispute over the 2,000-mile border between the two countries. It remains one of the most militarized borders in the world.
The strike corps will have its own mountain artillery, combat engineers, anti-aircraft guns, and radio equipment. Over 35,000 soldiers have already been raised in new infantry units in India’s northeastern state of Assam. The entire corps will be fully raised over the next five years with 90,274 troops at a cost of $10.6 billion. The proposal to raise a new strike corps was recommended last year by India’s China Study Group, a government body that considers all strategic issues related to China.
And heating up another front, from Want China Times:
Philippine hackers take down 200 Chinese websites
Hackers from the Philippines have attacked around 200 Chinese government and private websites in retaliation over the ongoing Spratly Islands territorial dispute in the South China Sea, reports ABS-CBN, the Philippines’ largest media corporation.
Some hacked web pages show a Chinese flag in the background and the logo of one of the hacker groups, known as Anonymous Philippines, along with the words: “China’s alleged claim on maritime territories and oppressive poaching can no longer be tolerated. Stand against oppression! It’s time to fight back. Say no to China’s bullying!”
Anonymous Philippines has reportedly put up a list of the hacked Chinese websites on Facebook, together with a quote from American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr: “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”
Jiji Press aligns:
Japan, Malaysia Call for Int’l Law-Based Resolution to S. China Sea Rows
The Japanese and Malaysian leaders agreed Wednesday on the need to ease tensions in the South China Sea, mainly marked by recent collisions between Chinese and Vietnamese ships, in accordance with international law.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak also underscored the importance of their countries strengthening cooperation in the field of security. To this end, Japan and Malaysia will promote exchanges between their defense officials, among other efforts.
During the talks at the prime minister’s office, Abe explained domestic discussions on a proposed change in the government’s interpretation of the constitution to enable the country to exercise the right to collective self-defense.
Kyodo News hears a call from Beijing:
China’s Xi urges new Asia security order without Cold War views
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday called for a new security framework in Asia that is free of an outmoded Cold War-era mentality, as the United States is seeking to play a bigger role in contributing to regional stability.
In his speech to a regional security summit, Xi said that security in Asia should be ensured by people in Asia and, without naming any country, warned that military alliances in the region have become nothing more than destabilizing factors.
The comments were made at a time of regional concerns over China’s growing assertiveness and the so-called pivot of the United States to Asia, under which Washington is strengthening its security alliance with countries such as Japan and the Philippines, both of which have been locked in bitter territorial disputes with Beijing.
And from CCTV America, a video report on victims of the hottest front of the moment:
Injured Workers Return Home from Vietnam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADhVA3vC24U
Program note:
Liu Yang reports from Sichuan province where Chinese nationals affected by the deadly violence in Vietnam are back receiving treatment in local hospitals.
Channel NewsAsia Singapore hears from Hanoi:
China a serious threat to peace: Vietnam PM
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Wednesday that China’s placing of an oil rig in contested South China Sea waters had “seriously threatened peace”.
Speaking in Manila after meeting Philippine President Benigno Aquino, Dung said the leaders agreed that China should be condemned by the international community for the oil rig deployment and many other illegal actions in the sea.
“With regard to the situation in the East Sea, the president and I shared the deep concerns over the current extremely dangerous situations caused by China’s many actions that violate international law,” Dung said, standing alongside Aquino at the presidential palace.
Want China Times has the latest confrontation afloat:
Vietnamese coast guard ‘chased away’ from Chinese oil rig
Chinese coast guard vessels drove at least two Vietnamese maritime security vessels away from Haiyang 981, a Chinese oil rig in disputed waters near the Paracel islands on May 20, according to the Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao.
The state-run Vietnam News Agency reported that a Vietnamese coast guard vessel was confronted by the Chinese vessels using a water cannon when it was sailing close to the rig. As there were about 90 Chinese vessels protecting Haiyang 981 from all sides, Vietnamese ships were unable to get close to it. Among those 90 Chinese vessels, many were reported to be fishing boats operated by fishermen.
Since Chinese fishing boats are mostly made of steel and Vietnamese fishing boats of wood, the latter can easily be destroyed in a collision. The Vietnamese official said that the Vietnamese maritime security vessels were not only driven away by the Chinese but also chased. Ta Kung Pao reported that at least two Vietnamese coast guard vessels, 4032 and 8003, were intercepted and rammed by Chinese vessels when they were trying to approach the rig.
And South China Morning Post covers the conspiratorial front:
Rumours in Vietnam blame outside forces for deadly anti-Chinese riots
Anti-Chinese violence was planned by groups with a hidden agenda, though sources disagree on who organised attacks and why they did it
Vietnam is awash with theories that outside forces, possibly with a murky pro-China agenda, orchestrated last week’s deadly anti-China riots.
Although the identity of the supposed masterminds remains a subject of debate, few seem willing to believe that the violence that claimed four Chinese lives and injured scores of workers erupted spontaneously.
Dinh Hoang Thang, a retired diplomat who has criticised China over the maritime territorial conflict, said the riots should not be viewed as an escalation of anti-China sentiment but rather as an attempt to smear the leadership in Hanoi.
And on to the remiltarization push in Japan, first with the Mainichi:
Gov’t may empower PM to decide whether to mobilize troops in ‘gray-zone’ incidents
The government has started to consider revising a system to empower the prime minister to decide whether to mobilize the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in the event of so-called “gray zone” incidents that do not lead to armed attacks but could encroach on Japan’s sovereignty, government sources said.
The envisioned step is designed to allow the SDF to respond to “gray-zone” incidents immediately after they actually occur. By making a Cabinet decision in advance that is necessary for the SDF to be mobilized, the government intends to allow the SDF to respond swiftly to incidents such as the landing on remote islands like the Senkaku Islands by armed foreign intruders. It is also expected to be discussed at joint deliberations on the legal basis for security between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior coalition partner, New Komeito, that kicked off on May 20.
Under the current system, when foreigners who are possibly bearing arms make an attempt to land on a remote island, the Japan Coast Guard and police are supposed to deal with them. If the coast guard and police are judged to be incapable of handling the situation, the prime minister will order a public security operation, or the defense minister will order policing action on the seas — both under the Self-Defense Forces Act after a Cabinet decision.
The Japan Times seeks a new hand:
Abe mulls new Cabinet minister to push collective self-defense
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to create a new post Cabinet minister post in charge of reworking Japan’s legal framework to remove a self-imposed ban on exercising the right to collective self-defense, government sources said Wednesday.
The specially assigned minister may be named in late August, and will be tasked mainly with explaining the government’s stance on the controversial issue to the Diet.
Abe aims to secure Cabinet approval for lifting the ban and revising a number of laws during an extraordinary Diet session in the fall, in line with a major security policy change, the sources said.
The Asahi Shimbun covers confrontation of another kind:
Protesters oppose ‘destroying’ Constitution as ruling coalition starts defense talks
Hundreds of protesters rallied on May 20 in front of the prime minister’s office against the Abe administration’s plan to allow the nation to exercise the right to collective self-defense, which they say would “destroy” Japan’s pacifist Constitution.
About 400 demonstrators gathered for the nighttime protest in Tokyo’s Nagatacho district, which was organized by the Anti-War Committee of 1,000 group. Nobel Prize-winning writer Kenzaburo Oe was one of those who launched the group.
“Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears to be moving ahead with his plans to realize his personal goal, ignoring the public,” said Hazu Nakagawa, 19, a sophomore at Musashino Art University, who participated in the protest. “I am concerned that democracy in Japan may be about to crumble.”
Doing the dance with the Japan Times:
Key differences remain in LDP, New Komeito self-defense talks
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito remain out of step as they hold coalition talks in an attempt to bridge key differences on how to deal with perceived shortcomings in Japan’s defense policies.
The biggest difference between the ruling parties is how to interpret war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution. LDP Vice President Masahiko Komura, who chairs the coalition talks, said the minimum necessary standard of the Constitution that allows Japan to defend itself should also allow the country to exert the right to collective self-defense.
But New Komeito Vice President Kazuo Kitagawa disagreed.
“Komura emphasizes legal-theory aspects (in interpreting) Article 9 but we are not in tune yet . . . There needs to be legal consistency with the interpretation of the Constitution by past governments,” Kitagawa, who serves as the deputy chairman of the coalition talks, said on Tuesday at the Japan National Press Club.
And from the Asahi Shimbun, aum sweet aum:
Buddhist monks, other faiths oppose exercise of right to collective self-defense
While religions were utilized in Japan during World War II to promote the war effort, Buddhist monks, Christian priests and other faiths are now actively battling the Abe administration’s efforts to reinterpret the pacifist Constitution to allow Japan to come to the military assistance of an ally under attack.
Their coalition results from their respective religious beliefs that they seek to protect human lives and that they must never tolerate wars or violence. They are also reflecting on their use as a tool of the state during the war.
Leaders plan to hold a rally in front of the Diet building in Tokyo on May 22.
And for our final item, Uncle Sam keeps up the heat, via the Japan Times:
U.S. experts back Abe on SDF role
Several former U.S. officials who remain engaged in Japanese affairs have urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet to reinterpret the Constitution to allow Japan to exercise the right of collective self-defense by the time the regular Diet session ends on June 22.
The group included former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell. He and the others held talks in Washington on Tuesday with lawmakers Katsuyuki Kawai, a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and Kenji Nakanishi, policy chief of the opposition Your Party.
Campbell said it is important to demonstrate that the United States and Japan are united, given East Asia’s changing security environment, Kawai said, citing Campbell. Kawai is a former chairman of the Lower House Foreign Affairs Committee. Kawai added that former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said he fully supports Japan making a Cabinet decision by that time.
And Michael Green, former senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council, said during a meeting with the lawmakers Monday that it is important to secure a Cabinet decision before the end of the Diet session, Kawai said.
