Special Duty: A History of the Japanese Intelligence Community

by Richard J. Samuels

The prewar history of the Japanese intelligence community demonstrates how having power over much, but insight into little can have devastating consequences. Its postwar history—one of limited Japanese power despite growing insight—has also been problematic for national security.

In Special Duty Richard J. Samuels dissects the fascinating history of the intelligence community in Japan. Looking at the impact of shifts in the strategic environment, technological change, and past failures, he probes the reasons why Japan has endured such a roller-coaster ride when it comes to intelligence gathering and analysis, and concludes that the ups and downs of the past century—combined with growing uncertainties in the regional security environment—have convinced Japanese leaders of the critical importance of striking balance between power and insight.  Using examples of excessive hubris and debilitating bureaucratic competition before the Asia-Pacific War, the unavoidable dependence on US assets and popular sensitivity to security issues after World War II, and the tardy adoption of image-processing and cyber technologies, Samuels' bold book highlights the century-long history of Japan's struggles to develop a fully functioning and effective intelligence capability, and makes clear that Japanese leaders have begun to reinvent their nation's intelligence community.

Genres: Japan, History, Nonfiction, Espionage, Asia, Military Fiction

517 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2019

Reviews

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty difficult for me to read, mostly because the history of Japan I am not familiar with, anyway through the development of its secret services, now I have learned a lot but I would not recommend this book to many people.

Questo é stato un libro particolarmente difficile da leggere, soprattutto perché in generale, e anche nel particolare, la storia del Giappone mi é abbastanza ignota. Comunque, attraverso questo excursus che racconta lo sviluppo dei servizi segreti, ne ho imparata un pochino, ciò non toglie che non consiglierei questo libro a molti.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

[Rebeca Núñez · Rating 4 out of 5]

** Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with the digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review **
Muy interesante. En este libro el autor repasa la historia de la inteligencia japonesa, que ya desde la premisa, me resultaba sumamente interesante. Esperaba que el libro fuera interesante, pero no tenia una expectativa definida, pero la verdad es que el análisis que el autor realiza en esta obra es muy incisivo y completo.

[Jonah Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a narrative of the slow march to bureaucracy reform after 1945, this isn't a particularly thrilling topic and unfortunately Samuels does not seem to manage to resolve that.

However, it is certainly a very readable and clear explanation of the topic with strong backing theoretical framework.
More diagrams would have helped.

[John Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The post-war history of the Japanese Intelligence Community is like the post-war history of Midway Island: not a lot happened.

Rival intelligence agencies that don't want to work together. Low capacity in everything but signals intelligence. Periodic attempts to boost capacity which end up not achieving much because of opposition from the public and the aforementioned problem with turf wars between the rival Japanese intelligence agencies. The book ends with a new attempt to boost capabilities and the author indicates that this time the attempt will succeed. Maybe things will change, but will they change enough to make a difference? It's a (famously) tricky business. The will may now be there, but it'll take more than that.

It's not the author's fault that nothing happened, he can only cover the material that's there, but a less-than-satisfactory reading experience is what it is whether the author is to blame or not.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a masterpiece that incisively analyzes the Japanese intelligence community and its activities. I learned a lot from this book. I think that Japan wants to overcome the various problems facing its intelligence and become a part of the Five Eyes as soon as possible.

Satoshi Morimoto, Former Minister of Defense, Japan

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With deep mastery of Japanese and American archival material and a raft of interviews with key players, Professor Samuels has captured in a single, valuable volume the successes and failures of Japanese intelligence since 1895 and, above all, the political cross-currents and unique restraints under which its agencies have operated since 1945.

Joel Brenner, former head of US counterintelligence, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and former Inspector General of the National Security Agency

[Daniel E Fillion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent review of the history of Japan’s intelligence community

Wonderfully researched and analyzed. Valuable insights for any scholar of Japan’s security apparatus, especially in light of recent developments in the expansion of Japan’s defense budget and role in its alliance with the United States.

[Colin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The history is adequate and badly needed as part of the intelligence studies canon; the unnecessary reinvention of a heuristic for interrogating intelligence history shows that Samuels is not an academic, and hasn’t bothered to explore whether a methodology already exists (it does). This digression wastes a lot of the beginning of this book and makes it read like a republished PhD manuscript.

[Eric Goode · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic overview of the Japanese intelligence community. But even more so the first chapter is an education about the intelligence community. As an analyst, it even provided some useful information on how to be a better analyst. Overall, one of the better, more informative books I've read.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good primer on the history of Japanese intelligence. Parts of the prose were dry, repetitive or choppy, but Samuels is a wonderful guide to all things Japan.