- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 360
Todays Ottawa Citizen:
Spend more on overseas spies, McLellan says
Deputy PM wants intelligence work expanded against security threats
Glen Mcgregor
The Ottawa Citizen
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
CREDIT: Tom Hanson, The Canadian Press
Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan is responsible for CSIS and the RCMP -- two agencies that could play roles in any overseas cloak-and-dagger work.
Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan says she wants more money for Canada to conduct spy operations in other countries and may even consider setting up a separate foreign intelligence-gathering agency to do it.
Testifying before a Senate committee on national security and defence, Ms. McLellan yesterday said Canada's domestic spy service is already doing limited intelligence collection in other countries. She wants to expand the work to better detect security threats against Canada and its allies, she told the committee.
"We live in a world where it is incumbent on each of us and our allies to ensure that we are doing our fair share to protect not just our own people," she said.
"While CSIS does collect foreign intelligence, I have made no secret that I think they should collect more."
She said she has requested funding for overseas intelligence from Finance Minister Ralph Goodale, who is currently preparing a federal budget that will be unveiled next Wednesday.
She would not say how much she requested, or exactly how she would spend the money if she gets it.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, some intelligence experts warned Canada must develop an ability to gather information in other countries, particularly the Middle East, to identify terrorist threats. But there are competing visions of how best to conduct foreign spying. Some favour expanding CSIS's mandate, while others believe Foreign Affairs is better suited to operating abroad.
Or, Canada could establish a separate agency, just as the U.S. has its Central Intelligence Agency and Britain its MI6.
As the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, Ms. McLellan is responsible for both CSIS and the RCMP -- two agencies that could play roles in any overseas cloak-and-dagger work.
"No final decisions have been made to how we might collect additional foreign security intelligence," she told reporters.
"Whether or not one, in the future, would move to a separate agency is something that has been discussed. Different countries have different models."
Although CSIS is required by law to operate only in Canada, then-director Ward Elcock said in 2003 that many would be surprised by the extent of the foreign intelligence operations after 9/11.
Ms. McLellan appeared yesterday before the Senate committee as part of its review of the bill that will establish the super-ministry she will lead.
The committee, led by Senator Colin Kenny, has been strongly critical of Canada's counterterrorism efforts and has chafed against the reluctance of law enforcement agencies to provide information about their work.
Ms. McLellan admitted yesterday there is "a culture of secrecy" within the departments and agencies that she oversees. She agreed they should try to provide "benchmark" data on passenger screening, for example, to help the committee chart progress on security.
"I have asked my department and agency heads whether it is possible to be more forthcoming without blowing a criminal investigation, or revealing the identity of an informant, or whatever the case may be," she said.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2005
Spend more on overseas spies, McLellan says
Deputy PM wants intelligence work expanded against security threats
Glen Mcgregor
The Ottawa Citizen
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
CREDIT: Tom Hanson, The Canadian Press
Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan is responsible for CSIS and the RCMP -- two agencies that could play roles in any overseas cloak-and-dagger work.
Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan says she wants more money for Canada to conduct spy operations in other countries and may even consider setting up a separate foreign intelligence-gathering agency to do it.
Testifying before a Senate committee on national security and defence, Ms. McLellan yesterday said Canada's domestic spy service is already doing limited intelligence collection in other countries. She wants to expand the work to better detect security threats against Canada and its allies, she told the committee.
"We live in a world where it is incumbent on each of us and our allies to ensure that we are doing our fair share to protect not just our own people," she said.
"While CSIS does collect foreign intelligence, I have made no secret that I think they should collect more."
She said she has requested funding for overseas intelligence from Finance Minister Ralph Goodale, who is currently preparing a federal budget that will be unveiled next Wednesday.
She would not say how much she requested, or exactly how she would spend the money if she gets it.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, some intelligence experts warned Canada must develop an ability to gather information in other countries, particularly the Middle East, to identify terrorist threats. But there are competing visions of how best to conduct foreign spying. Some favour expanding CSIS's mandate, while others believe Foreign Affairs is better suited to operating abroad.
Or, Canada could establish a separate agency, just as the U.S. has its Central Intelligence Agency and Britain its MI6.
As the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, Ms. McLellan is responsible for both CSIS and the RCMP -- two agencies that could play roles in any overseas cloak-and-dagger work.
"No final decisions have been made to how we might collect additional foreign security intelligence," she told reporters.
"Whether or not one, in the future, would move to a separate agency is something that has been discussed. Different countries have different models."
Although CSIS is required by law to operate only in Canada, then-director Ward Elcock said in 2003 that many would be surprised by the extent of the foreign intelligence operations after 9/11.
Ms. McLellan appeared yesterday before the Senate committee as part of its review of the bill that will establish the super-ministry she will lead.
The committee, led by Senator Colin Kenny, has been strongly critical of Canada's counterterrorism efforts and has chafed against the reluctance of law enforcement agencies to provide information about their work.
Ms. McLellan admitted yesterday there is "a culture of secrecy" within the departments and agencies that she oversees. She agreed they should try to provide "benchmark" data on passenger screening, for example, to help the committee chart progress on security.
"I have asked my department and agency heads whether it is possible to be more forthcoming without blowing a criminal investigation, or revealing the identity of an informant, or whatever the case may be," she said.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2005
