Japan's government on Tuesday announced a taskforce to build a version of the US National Security Council as part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bid to increase his office's authority.
Abe has called for a stronger premier's office to quicken response time in a potential crisis with North Korea, which last month tested an atomic bomb, and to better co-ordinate with the United States.
Abe, who took office in late September, has already created the new position of "national security adviser" modelled on the White House, where the aide reports directly to the president.
"I want experts to discuss how we could have better co-ordination with related offices and agencies such as the foreign ministry and the Defence Agency," Abe told reporters.
The taskforce, to be chaired by Abe, would hold its first meeting on November 22, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said.
Defence chief Fumio Kyuma supported Japan's need for a National Security Council, saying, "It is very important to process information from each government office and agency before sending it up to the prime minister and chief cabinet secretary."
The taskforce will have 14 members including Shiozaki, National Security Adviser Yuriko Koike and Shunji Yanai, a former ambassador to Washington.
Abe, Japan's first premier born after World War II, supports a larger international security role for Japan and wants to rewrite the US-imposed 1947 constitution, under which Tokyo was forced to renounce the right to a military.
In a break with the past, Abe has also appointed senior ministry officials to a policy team working directly under him to take up issues of its choosing.
The move is intended to sideline unelected bureaucrats, who have traditionally wielded heavy influence in Japanese politics.