Naichō (内調), an abbreviation for Naikaku Jōhō Chōsashitsu (内閣情報調査室, Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office), is an intelligence agency of Japan, an agency of the Cabinet Secretariat, which reports directly to the Prime Minister. The agency is said to be an equal to the American Central Intelligence Agency. However, it is often criticized as being rather ineffectual, spending most of its energy translating foreign publications rather than gathering any substantial intelligence while being accused of spying on Japanese nationals on domestic soil.