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COMMENTARY / World
Dec 14, 2014

Time to stop viewing torture as a policy option

President Barack Obama's refusal to enforce an unequivocal prohibition against unauthorized interrogation techniques means that torture effectively remains a U.S. policy option rather than a criminal offense.
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2014

Worries about secrets law linger

As Japan's state secrets law finally takes effect a year after it was enacted, much of the concern that many people had about the legislation remains unaddressed.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 10, 2014

CIA misled Congress about brutal, ineffective terrorist interrogations, Senate report finds

The CIA misled Congress and White House officials about its interrogations of terror suspects and mismanaged a program that was far more brutal and less effective than publicly portrayed, according to a report by Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee.
WORLD
Nov 18, 2014

FBI probes State Department hacking tied to White House breach

The FBI is investigating a hacking attack that forced the U.S. State Department to disable part of its email system and may be linked to a previously disclosed intrusion of the White House network.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 26, 2014

More distrust, less harmony if law pits local patriarchs against Tokyo secrecy fetishists

With the state secrets law about to take effect, a fundamental question awaits: When is a “state” secret no longer merely national and starts to infringe upon “local” autonomy?
Japan Times
WORLD
Jun 6, 2014

Bergdahl had left his unit before: reports

A U.S. military investigation of Bowe Bergdahl's capture by the Taliban found the army sergeant had slipped away from his unit on several known occasions but had always returned, raising questions about whether or not he was deserting when he disappeared in 2009, people familiar with the findings said...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Apr 7, 2014

New SDF unit shores up thinly protected cyberborders

Japan has embarked on an effort to improve cybersecurity as an ever-increasing number of sophisticated computer viruses threaten to endanger national security.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jan 20, 2014

Snowden a 'thief who may have had Russian aid,' U.S. lawmaker claims

Edward Snowden, the fugitive former contractor who leaked classified National Security Agency documents, "was a thief" who had possible Russian assistance and has "incredibly harmed" the U.S. military, the House Intelligence Committee chairman said.
WORLD
Dec 22, 2013

U.S. secretly helps Colombia kill rebel leaders

The 50-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), once considered the best-funded insurgency in the world, is at its smallest and most vulnerable state in decades, due in part to a CIA covert action program that has helped Colombian forces kill at least two dozen rebel leaders, according...
WORLD
Dec 22, 2013

U.S. reasserts need to keep domestic surveillance secret

The government Friday reasserted its claim of state-secrets privilege to keep under wraps what it says are operational details in two long-running lawsuits alleging the National Security Agency's surveillance of Americans' emails and phone calls is unlawful.
COMMUNITY / Issues
Dec 18, 2013

A secrets law for whom? Look who gets a free pass

Ancient Confucian scholars regarded law as a necessary evil, something used on lower orders of people who lacked the moral refinement to act righteously without prompting. Yet this just states a basic truth about law: It is something we do to other people. You and I know how to act properly, right? It's...
EDITORIALS
Dec 15, 2013

Ishiba's ominous words

Statements by LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba underscore the danger that the new state secrets law could pose to Japanese democracy.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 12, 2013

Government to promulgate new secrets law quickly

The government will promulgate the contentious state secrets law Friday, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet will be tested in its ability to create viable independent overseers to check how the state classifies and declassifies information before the law takes effect within a year.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 1, 2013

Guardian is targeted over Snowden leaks

Living in self-imposed exile in Russia, former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden may be safely out of reach of the Western powers. But dismayed by the continued airing of trans-Atlantic intelligence, British authorities are taking full aim at a messenger shedding light on his secret...
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 30, 2013

Skepticism engulfs secrecy bill

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government rammed the controversial state secrecy bill through the Lower House last week, what seemed to become evident is that even his Cabinet ministers lack a coherent understanding of the content, breeding even more skepticism among the public.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 5, 2013

Abe copies China's playbook on protecting state secrets

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is so obsessed with China eclipsing Japan on the global stage that he's adopting some of his neighbor's policies with regard to the protection of 'secrets.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 25, 2013

Talks on body to deal with security begin

The Diet started deliberations Friday on a bill to establish a Japanese version of the U.S. National Security Council, an entity designed to enhance the government's ability to deal with national security and manage crises.
Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 24, 2013

U.S. keeps Pakistani officials in loop on drone strikes

Despite repeatedly denouncing the CIA's drone campaign, top officials in Pakistan's government have for years secretly endorsed the program and routinely received classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts, according to top-secret CIA documents and Pakistani diplomatic memos obtained by The...
COMMENTARY / COUNTERPOINT
Oct 5, 2013

Abe promotes secrecy, sidelining transparency and open government

Norika Fujiwara, a TV celebrity who serves as goodwill ambassador for the Japanese Red Cross, recently caused a media sensation when she came out against the government's proposed secrecy legislation, saying it would adversely affect citizens.
WORLD
Aug 31, 2013

Secret documents detail U.S. war in cyberspace

The Obama administration's cyber operations sometimes involve what one leaked budget document calls 'field operations' abroad, commonly with the help of CIA operatives or clandestine military forces, 'to physically place hardware implants or software modifications.'
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 25, 2013

On guard against worker betrayal

The debacle of Edward Snowden walking away with electronic copies of thousands of classified documents illustrates the challenge of trusting people in any organization.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 18, 2013

Newspaper rescue defines today's good citizen

It would appear that Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos wants less to own The Washington Post than to set its values free financially, for at least a generation or two.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal / ANALYSIS
Jul 31, 2013

WikiLeaks' founder may be next target

The conviction of U.S. Army Pvt. Bradley Manning on espionage charges Tuesday makes it increasingly likely that the United States will prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a co-conspirator, according to his attorney and other civil liberties groups.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jul 19, 2013

Manning trial judge declines to dismiss key charge he 'aided the enemy'

A U.S. military judge on Thursday declined to dismiss a key charge against the army private responsible for the largest leak of classified material in American history, a decision with significant implications for the future publication of secret government material.
EDITORIALS
Jul 4, 2013

Shuffling the books on nursing care

The health ministry's idea of having municipalities provide nursing care services to some elderly people could raise the costs of care while reducing its quality.
WORLD
Jul 2, 2013

Surveillance court judge defends role

Recent leaks of classified documents have pointed to the role of a special court in enabling the government's secret surveillance programs, but members of the court are chafing at the suggestion that they were collaborating with the executive branch.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Jun 26, 2013

Snowden files stoke U.S. security concerns

The ability of contractor-turned-fugitive Edward Snowden to evade arrest is raising new concerns among U.S. officials about the security of top-secret documents he is believed to have in his possession — and about the possibility that he could willingly share them with those who assist his escape....

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?