Indo-Pacific: Strengthening trust, shared understanding & cognitive domain resilience
The Australia-Japan Technical Partnership Forum on Countering Foreign Interference was held at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo on Friday, February 6, 2026, bringing together representatives from government, defence, academia and industry. The forum focused on how both countries can strengthen cognitive security, open-source intelligence (OSINT) tradecraft and resilience against information manipulation.
The discussions focused on how Australia and Japan can align on shared indicators, trusted workflows and cross-sector cooperation to match the speed and complexity of modern influence activity.
Opening remarks: OSINT as an ecosystem capability
Leo Bremanis, Trade and Investment Commissioner and Counsellor (Commercial) at the Australian Embassy Tokyo, opened the event by highlighting the shift from government-centric intelligence to a more distributed model involving industry, academia, geospatial providers and analytics organisations.
“The shift from government-only intelligence to a multi-sector OSINT ecosystem requires interoperability, auditability and explainability as prerequisites for trust.” – Leo Bremanis, Trade and Investment Commissioner, Australian Embassy Tokyo
Keynote by Mr Jiro Hiroe: Understanding the Cognitive Domain & Its Strategic Impact
In his keynote, Mr Jiro Hiroe, Lieutenant General (Retired) and former Commanding General of TERCOM, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, highlighted how adversaries increasingly aim to shape interpretation and decision-making rather than simply spreading false information. He distinguished the information domain, which concerns distribution and distortion of content, from the cognitive domain, where the objective is to influence judgement and behaviour.
This strategic framing aligns with measurable changes in Japan’s information environment. MIC reporting shows generative AI adoption has increased from 9.1 percent to 26.7 percent, and adoption among people in their twenties has reached 44.7 percent. These shifts increase the speed at which persuasive content can be created, adapted and scaled.
Nasa Tatsuguchi: Identifying Coordination Hidden in Everyday Online Activity
Nasa Tatsuguchi, Head Analyst at Japan Nexus Intelligence, spoke about the behavioural signatures that reveal coordinated influence activity in Japan’s online environment. She highlighted how sudden topic shifts, language-switching patterns and synchronised posting can indicate manipulation even when individual messages appear ordinary.
These practitioner observations align with broader research published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and Japan Nexus Intelligence, which describes a shift toward overt, state-linked messaging campaigns targeting Japan. These campaigns increasingly leverage diplomatic and state-media accounts to shape regional perceptions of Japan’s security posture.
Reporting by The Japan News on the July 2025 House of Councillors election referenced analysis that detected approximately 9,400 accounts showing bot-like behaviour, with deeper review finding 45 percent of a high-likelihood subset intensified activity during July.
The operational implication for Australia and Japan is direct: shared indicators and shared analytic language are essential so teams can identify abnormal amplification and coordinated behaviour consistently across organisations and borders.
“Coordination often hides in plain sight. It is visible not in identical messages but in patterns of timing, pivots and synchronisation.” – Nasa Tatsuguchi, Head Analyst, Japan Nexus Intelligence
Building Shared Readiness, Governance and Cross-Border Cooperation
The forum program included a panel featuring senior experts from academia and industry. The listed panelists were:
- Dr Brenton Cooper, CEO and Co-Founder, Fivecast
- Prof. Michito Tsuruoka, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University
- Mr Masumitsu Ito, Partner, Deloitte Tohmatsu Cyber
- Mr Masaichi Nakamori, Representative of Japan Nexus Intelligence
Panelists highlighted that countering foreign interference requires processes that can operate at the speed of modern platforms while remaining explainable and defensible for senior decision-makers.
The panel also reflected the evolving threat landscape, including shifts toward overt state-linked messaging. ASPI and Japan Nexus Intelligence have reported that Chinese state media and diplomatic social media accounts have intensified efforts to push destabilising narratives about Japan, representing a shift that complicates response and increases the need for trusted evidence and coordination.
READ OUR WHITE PAPER: Foreign Influence In The Pacific
Participants also noted the value of whole-of-society approaches to resilience. Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) has launched DIGITAL POSITIVE ACTION as a public–private partnership initiative to improve ICT literacy and address disinformation and harmful online behaviours, supported by a dedicated website and a series of awareness-raising activities.
During the panel discussion, Dr Brenton Cooper reinforced the strategic importance of democratic cooperation when countering sophisticated influence threats.
“Foreign interference has become one of the defining strategic challenges of our time. No democracy can counter these operations on its own.” – Dr Brenton Cooper, CEO and Co‑Founder, Fivecast
How Fivecast Can Help?
Fivecast platforms support national security, defence and intelligence organisations by enabling high‑assurance collection and analysis of open-source data to surface early indicators of coordinated influence activity, identify narrative shifts and support transparent, evidence-based assessments. These capabilities align with the forum’s emphasis on interoperability, auditability and multi-sector cooperation.
The Australia–Japan Technical Partnership Forum underscored the value of trusted cooperation in countering foreign interference. Insights from Japanese Government agencies, independent monitoring organisations and cross-sector specialists highlight why both nations are prioritising shared indicators, stronger governance and evidence-led communication across the cognitive domain.
FAQs
Why is bilateral collaboration important?
Australia and Japan face similar interference patterns, including abnormal amplification documented during Japan’s 2025 election period and overt state-linked influence operations. Shared methods improve the consistency and quality of assessments.
What is changing in Japan’s information environment?
Japan’s MIC reports fast-rising generative AI adoption and widespread use of platforms, creating a fast-moving environment where narratives can scale rapidly.
What builds trust in cognitive domain operations?
Trust depends on transparent, explainable analysis supported by independent verification. MIC’s DIGITAL POSITIVE ACTION initiative and IAEA oversight of ALPS-treated water are examples of this approach in practice
What is changing in the regional threat landscape?
ASPI and Japan Nexus Intelligence report a shift toward overt, state-linked influence operations using diplomatic and state-media channels, complicating response and increasing the need for trusted evidence and cross-border coordination.
About Fivecast
The mission of Fivecast is to enable a safer world. As a world-leading provider of open-source intelligence solutions, Fivecast helps customers collect and analyze massive amounts of data, uncovering actionable insights critical to protecting global communities. Purpose-built to address the highest priority use cases in the national security, law enforcement, defense, corporate security, and financial crime markets, Fivecast deploys advanced data collection and AI-enabled analytics to solve the most complex intelligence challenges.
