A Japanese scholar cautioned on Monday that the act to establish a national intelligence council lacks sufficient justification and could be used to expand intelligence surveillance and drive military buildup, with far-reaching consequences for Japan's future.

Speaking at a lecture on the act in Tokyo, Masakatsu Adachi, emeritus professor at Japan's Kanto Gakuin University, expressed concern that the national intelligence council could, in the future, operate closely with bodies such as the Japanese National Security Council, widening the scope of intelligence gathering.

He further warned that such intelligence could be used to justify new security and military policies, lending a veneer of legitimacy to Japan's military expansion and steering the country down a dangerous path.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has used the claim that Japan faces "the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II" as a pretext to advance the development of a national intelligence apparatus, including the national intelligence council, Adachi said, adding that exaggerating threats posed by presumed adversaries to justify policy initiatives has become a recurring tactic of the Takaichi administration.

Adachi pointed out that current regional tensions are, to some extent, of Takaichi's own making, fueled by her erroneous remarks and military expansion drive. Rather than reflecting on those actions, he said, the government is exploiting the resulting tensions to push dangerous policies further, a move that could further undermine regional stability.

The legislation to establish a national intelligence council, promoted by the Takaichi administration to centralize and strengthen Japan's intelligence apparatus, cleared both houses of the Diet, Japan's parliament, in April and May this year and has since been enacted.

The act has sparked widespread concern in Japan, with critics arguing that it fails to define the scope and limits of government intelligence-gathering activities clearly and lacks effective oversight mechanisms.