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June 30, 2026
 

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ESPIONAGE

Industrial espionage, chip smuggling and drug trafficking are exposing Japan's growing economic security vulnerabilities.
BUSINESS / FOCUS
Jun 29, 2026
Chinese spies and smuggled drugs fuel Takaichi’s security push
Across a range of industries, Japan’s economic-security vulnerabilities have been on display in a slew of recent incidents.
Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, prepares to speak at the agency's headquarters in Canberra on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 25, 2026
Australia’s spy chief warns of rising terror and cyber threats
Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, has identified extremism and foreign espionage as among the threats his agency is trying to prevent.
Taipei and Beijing ​have long spied on each other, but now a new Taiwanese website encourages Chinese nationals to report intelligence tips through a secure channel.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 14, 2026
Taiwan launches website for Chinese nationals to report intelligence
The website is blocked in China, though many Chinese use VPNs to access other blocked ​sites ​like Western social media and search engines.
U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to his resort in Palm Beach, Florida, in December.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 7, 2026
Pentagon sees growing espionage threat from Israel
Israel and the U.S. have long known that each was spying on the other but recent Israeli efforts to learn about U.S. positions in talks with Iran may have crossed a line.
Critics argue the selection of Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to lead U.S. intelligence reflects a preference for political loyalty over expertise.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2026
Pulte will drag U.S. intelligence from bad to worse
Pulte, though, appears to be worse. He seems even less qualified for the job than Gabbard (who at least had military experience).
The "Five Eyes" security agencies alliance said in a bulletin ​that China's military intelligence services were using a wide array ‌of professional networking ‌sites and online recruitment platforms to target people with access to sensitive information.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 4, 2026
Five Eyes security alliance warns of Chinese espionage threat
An alliance bulletin ​says China’s military intelligence services have been using networking ‌sites and recruitment platforms to target people with access to sensitive information.
Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, speaks in an online interview on May 22.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 3, 2026
Former Canadian diplomat detained in China says Japan needs to help constrain Beijing
Countries like Japan, South Korea and Australia cannot counter China on their own, but with the U.S. and India, they could constrain Beijing’s influence, Michael Kovrig says.
From left: FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. James Adams, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard, Acting National Security Agency Director Lt. Gen. William Hartman and CIA Director John Ratcliffe testify before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 18.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 3, 2026
Top U.S. spy agencies feud over turf and mission
The infighting between the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has flared for more than a year.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during the National Defense Academy's graduation ceremony in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, in March. The Japanese leader currently has the political and procedural leverage to pursue sweeping reforms, including the creation of an intelligence agency modeled on the CIA.
EDITORIALS
May 29, 2026
Long overdue, Japan updates its intelligence infrastructure
The government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is taking steps to improve that capability with passage of the National Intelligence Council Law.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during an Upper House Cabinet Committee meeting on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
May 27, 2026
How the intel bill showed Japan’s new political reality
The debate surrounding the National Intelligence Council Law revealed less about Japan’s intelligence system than the current contours of the country’s new political reality.
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington in March 2025.
WORLD / Politics
May 23, 2026
Tulsi Gabbard resigns as Trump’s top U.S. intelligence official
Gabbard cited her husband’s battle with bone cancer, but a source familiar with the matter said that she had been forced out by the White House.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi receives a policy recommendation document from Takayuki Kobayashi (center left), head of the Liberal Democratic Party's Headquarters for Intelligence Strategy, in March at the Prime Minister's Office.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
May 14, 2026
Government ramps up push to enhance intelligence capabilities
As a first step, the government plans to establish a national intelligence bureau as early as July.
Lu Jianwang, a U.S. citizen charged with conspiring to act as an agent of the Chinese government by helping set up a Chinese “secret police station,” arrives at Brooklyn federal court during his trial in New York on Tuesday.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
May 14, 2026
Man accused of running China police outpost in New York convicted
The man, a U.S. citizen, was also convicted in Brooklyn federal court of obstruction of justice.
A California mayor admitted to posting pro-China propaganda at the direction of Chinese government officials, according to court documents unsealed Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 12, 2026
Los Angeles-area mayor to plead guilty to acting as Chinese propaganda agent
The mayor of Arcadia, California, a heavily Chinese-American suburb of Los Angeles, has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of acting as a foreign agent of China.
A bill to strengthen the government's intelligence capabilities was passed a Lower House plenary session on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 23, 2026
Japan Lower House OKs bill to boost intel capabilities
The bill calls for setting up a national intelligence council to be headed by the prime minister and a national intelligence bureau.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at the Lower House plenary session on Thursday as the bill to upgrade the nation’s intelligence framework was put to debate.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 6, 2026
Japan’s much-needed intel debate could cost Takaichi political points
While the Liberal Democratic Party will not likely face major obstacles in the intelligence debate, it still could weigh down Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration.
An advertisement for the Max messenger platform in Moscow
WORLD / Politics
Mar 31, 2026
The KGB’s successor is expanding its power in Putin’s Russia
Russia’s main security agency is expanding its sweeping surveillance powers, deepening the state’s reach into economic and social life to suppress any risk of dissent to President Vladimir Putin.
Japan’s Cabinet approved a bill to create the National Intelligence Secretariat and Council, but unlike the U.S. intelligence model with independent oversight, placing the prime minister in charge risks conflicts that could undermine effectiveness.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 27, 2026
Will Japan’s new National Intelligence Council function properly?
The most important concept is the independence of intelligence services from policymaking.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government approved a draft revision to the drone law at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Mar 24, 2026
Government approves bill to expand no-fly zones for drones in Japan
While the designated no-fly zones have not changed since the law entered into force in 2016, drones’ maximum speeds, ranges and load capacities have drastically improved.
Famed British author Len Deighton, who died last week at 97, revolutionized spy fiction with his unnamed, working-class anti-heroes whose cynical realism and bureaucratic worlds offered a sharp contrast to glamorous spies, leaving a lasting mark on the genre.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 24, 2026
Six decades ago, Len Deighton created a man for our times
Unlike Ian Fleming and John le Carre, creators of James Bond and George Smiley, respectively, Deighton never worked for the British intelligence service.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Chinese and Russian bombers and fighter jets stage joint patrol near Japan
A Chinese Air Force H-6 bomber is seen during a joint patrol with Russian military aircraft on Saturday.
U.S. missile moves in Japan send China clear message: A new era has arrived
Soldiers conduct the first Typhon midrange capability live-fire exercise outside of the continental United States, firing an SM-6 missile in July last year in Australia's Northern Territory during Exercise Talisman Sabre.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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