防衛省改革 まずは混合組織化が現実的だ

The Yomiuri Shimbun September 3, 2013
Promote personnel amalgamation in Defense Ministry as 1st priority
防衛省改革　まずは混合組織化が現実的だ（9月2日付・読売社説）

It is important for civilian officials of the Defense Ministry and uniformed officers of the Self-Defense Forces to cooperate closely as an inseparable combination and build a system to support the defense minister.
　文官の背広組と自衛官の制服組が「車の両輪」として緊密に連携し、防衛相を支える体制を構築することが重要だ。

The ministry has announced a plan to restructure its organization. The main change is to expand the joint deployment of civilian officials and uniformed officers to the ministry’s internal bureaus and units of the Self-Defense Forces, while abolishing the Operational Policy Bureau and integrating its functions into the Joint Staff, so as to centralize the operation of the SDF units.
　防衛省が省改革の組織改編案を発表した。文官と自衛官の相互配置を拡大するとともに、部隊運用の一元化に向けて、内局の運用企画局を廃止し、統合幕僚監部に統合することが柱だ。

Civilian bureaucrats at the ministry’s bureaus will be tasked with drawing up laws and ordinances, formulating policies and coordinating views with political parties and other government ministries, while uniformed officers will be expected to keep their military expertise current by maintaining their connections with their counterparts abroad. Naturally, it is desirable for both to give full play to their natural abilities and cooperate with each other.
　背広組の防衛官僚は、法令作成や政策立案、政党・他省庁との調整を専門とする。制服組は豊富な軍事的知見や他国軍とのパイプを持つ。当然、双方が持ち味を生かし、協力することが望ましい。

Currently, personnel exchanges between the ministry’s internal bureaus and SDF units are limited. Only 32 majors or lieutenant colonels of the Air or Ground Self-Defense Forces and lieutenant commanders or commanders of the Maritime Self-Defense Force have been assigned to ministry’s internal bureaus, while five young civilian officials are working in units of the Ground Self-Defense Force.
　現在は、２、３佐級の自衛官３２人が内局で、若手の文官５人が陸上自衛隊部隊でそれぞれ勤務するだけで、人事交流は限定的だ。

From next fiscal year, the number of SDF officers assigned to the ministry’s internal bureaus will be increased to 56, with the number to be formally fixed, while the number of civilian officials assigned to SDF units will be increased to 22. This course of action, which is aimed at promoting the intermingling of civilian officials and uniformed officers, is reasonable.
　来年度から、内局勤務の自衛官を５６人に増やし、正式に定員化する。自衛隊勤務の文官も２２人に増員する。防衛省の混合組織化を進める方向性は妥当である。

We can also expect positive effects in the field of manpower development if civilian officials who may one day become senior ministry officials and uniformed officers who may become senior SDF officers learn about the administrative organization and the real state of the SDF units and broaden their vision.
　将来、幹部となる文官や自衛官が行政組織や部隊の実態を知り、視野を広めることは、人材育成面の効果も期待できよう。

The organizational amalgamation should be expanded, including the manpower exchange of even higher-ranking officials, in the middle and long term.
中長期的に、より高官の人事交流も含め、混合組織化を拡大すべきだ。

Merger may not by practical

On the other hand, it is questionable whether the idea of integrating the Operational Policy Bureau into the Joint Staff is practical.
　一方で、運用企画局を統幕に統合する案は、果たしてうまく機能するのか、疑問である。

When a major disaster occurs or when North Korea launches a ballistic missile, both cilivian officials and SDF officers gather at the central command center in the basement of the Defense Ministry building and respond promptly. In ordinary times, the Operational Policy Bureau and the Joint Staff cooperate with each other, and there is no particular problem with this.
　現状でも、大規模災害や北朝鮮の弾道ミサイル発射の際は、防衛省地下の中央指揮所に文官と自衛官が集結し、迅速に対応している。平時は運用企画局と統幕が連携しており、特に問題はない。

In the operation of the SDF units, not only wise military decisions must be made but the government must make policy decisions and situation assessments, making the presence of civilian officials all the more meaningful.
　部隊運用には、軍事的合理性だけでなく、政府としての政策・情勢判断が重要な要素となる。そこに文官の存在意義がある。

For the prime minister and the defense minister to properly maintain civilian control, it is necessary to maintain those internal bureaus, which would gather information and assist the defense minister and other officials, separately from the Joint Staff.
　首相や防衛相が的確な文民統制（シビリアンコントロール）を行うには、統幕とは別に、情報を集約し、防衛相らを補佐する内局組織を維持することが必要だ。

As medium- and long-term challenges, the reorganizational plan includes the idea of integrating the procurement of defense equipment under a tentatively named “defense equipment agency.”
　中期的課題では、防衛装備品の調達を「防衛装備庁」（仮称）に一元化することも盛り込んだ。

The ratio of the defense equipment budget allocated to the three SDF branches has remained fixed for a long time, which some have said encourages bureaucratic sectionalism.
　陸海空３自衛隊の装備予算の比率は長年、ほぼ固定化しており、縦割りの弊害が指摘されている。

It is important to promote an organizational restructuring that would increase the equipment budget for maritime and air defense units, which should be given a higher priority.
より優先度の高い海・空の装備予算の拡大につなげる方向で、組織改編を進めることが大切だ。

Any large-scale organizational reform would entail the risk of causing organizational disarray and lowering morale. Now that the ministry is beset with many important issues, including a revision of the National Defense Program Guidelines, there is little need to press the ministry’s reform plan now, which may only bring about a leadership struggle between civilian officials and SDF officers.
　大規模な改革は組織の混乱や士気低下を招くリスクを伴う。防衛大綱の改定など、多くの重要案件を抱える今、文官と自衛官の主導権争いを招きかねない省改革をあえて進める必要性は乏しい。

A realistic approach would be to first promote the integration of civilian bureaucrats and uniformed officers, and, while examining its merits and demerits, the ministry should prudently move ahead with its organizational restructuring.
　まずは混合組織化を進め、その功罪を検証しつつ、組織改編を慎重に進めるのが現実的だろう。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 2, 2013)
（2013年9月2日01時03分  読売新聞）