In March 2006, Ministry of Defense and Self Defense Forces shifted to the jointly operational structure and Chief of Staff, Joint Staff office became to advise the Minister of Defense primarily from view point as military specialist.
Also, tight U.S. - Japan cooperation based on the security treaty has been playing a important role to secure the security of Japan. In order to strengthen U.S.-Japan security posture, Self Defense Fleet keep close opinion exchanges with U.S. Seventh Fleet and conduct bilateral exercises in an active manner, and extremely high interoperability is maintained