I have, thankfully, never been on trial. My appearances in Canadian courts have been limited to a brief stint as a court interpreter many, many years ago and my role as an expert witness in several national security certificate cases. I have never been charged with an offence for which I would find myself before […]
Author: Phil Gurski
Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. Phil is a 32-year veteran of CSE and CSIS and the author of six books on terrorism.
I am a parent (and now even a grandparent – how the hell did I get THIS old?). As a parent I helped to raise three children, all of whom are now young adults. As all parents know, our kids do (or did) things we had a problem with and there were times when we […]
If there is one thing I learned over three decades in the intelligence business it is that decisions on how to do intelligence are best left to intelligence professionals. Agencies responsible for intelligence are of course subject to the democratic governments we elect and they cannot (and should not) ‘go rogue’, engaging in activity that […]
This article appeared in The Hill Times on January 29, 2018 http://www.hilltimes.com/2018/01/29/link-immigration-terrorism/132069 Canada is a nation of immigrants, of that there is no question. Our historical openness to those around the world has made us the country we are, warts and all. And while immigration waves have varied over the centuries – my own family was […]
Finding fault with security intelligence and law enforcement agencies and personnel is a bit of a sport, I find. Second guessing and armchair quarterbacking seem to appeal to many who latch on to any mistake, real or perceived, to case aspersion on the efforts of those who are supposedly there to keep us safe. “What […]
In January 1842 the British army suffered one of the most humiliating defeats in its history, a defeat memorialised in a painting entitled Remnants of an Army (shown above). The British were massacred in retreating from Kabul in what is now known as the First Anglo-Afghan War, part of the ‘Great Game’ between Imperial Russia […]
This piece appeared in The Hill Times on January 15, 2018 There are many reasons why citizens dislike City Hall. You might have a beef over the taxes you pay. Perhaps you are not happy with snow removal or garbage collection. You may even have a bone to pick with a parking ticket you received. […]
This piece appeared in The Hill Times on January 22, 2018 If there is one thing we have learned about Joshua Boyle it is that he is an odd duck. He apparently made over 62,000 edits and contributions to Wikipedia over a 13-year span (if my math is correct that makes 15 a day) on […]
One would think that a state has fundamental rights and obligations in the same way that people do. Any state must, for instance, have a monopoly on the use of force since in the absence of such we would live in anarchy. I agree that the state exists only – or rather should exist only […]
You gotta feel for the Kurds, history’s version of ‘always a bridesmaid, never a bride’. Oft described as the world’s largest ethnic group without a country to call their own, the Kurds have come ever so close on several occasions. They were kinda promised autonomy following the breakup of the Ottoman Empire in the post […]