Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office

The Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office (内閣情報調査室, Naikaku Jōhō Chōsashitsu), also known as Naichō (内調), is a Government of Japan intelligence agency under the Cabinet Secretariat responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information for the cabinet. As a principal member of the Japanese intelligence community, the CIRO reports directly to the Prime Minister of Japan.

Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office

Agency overview
Formed	1986
Preceding agencies	Research Office (1952) Cabinet Research Center/Cabinet Research Office (1957)
Jurisdiction	Government of Japan

The CIRO frequently works with the National Security Council as a communication channel with the prime minister. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, in a building called "H20".

History

The CIRO was created by the Allied Forces through the formation of the Prime Ministers's Research Office (内閣総理大臣官房調査室, Naikakusōri Daijin Kanbō Chōsa-Shitsu) in April 1952 with Jun Murai as the first director in an attempt to replicate its structure after the CIA. But due to widespread opposition, this plan was discarded. The RO was placed under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's office in 1957 and was known as the Cabinet Research Office (内閣調査室, Naikaku Chōsa-Shitsu). The CRO was later renamed the CIRO in 1986.

The Cabinet Intensive Information Center was established on April 11, 1996, to ensure that the CIRO can inform the Prime Minister in severe emergencies. It's located in the Prime Minister's residence.

In August 2007, discussions of intelligence reforms through the paper improvement of counter-intelligence functions resulted in the establishment of the counter-intelligence Center. It's been suggested that the CIC can be used as the basis for the creation of an actual external intelligence agency similar to the CIA.

In 2013, CIRO satellite imagery analysis was used to assist NGOs in Tacloban with reconstruction work in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan.

Since 2015, CIRO agents are usually recruited to be sent to the International Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Collection Unit.