Kaoru Yakushima was the Secretary-General of the governing coalition during the events of Stand Alone Complex. He was also the head of a massive cabal within the government who created the meme of The Laughing Man to profit off of nano-machine treatments for Cyberbrain Sclerosis. Using his connections throughout the government, Yakushima waged war against Section 9 and manages to shut them down close to the end of the series. However Chief Aramaki traded evidence of Yakushima's corruption to the Ministry of Justice in order to preserve the lives of his unit, leading to his fall from public office.