This piece appeared in The Hill Times on July 29, 2019. July 22 marks a somber anniversary in Canada. A year ago a large crowd was enjoying a summer’s evening on Toronto’s Danforth Ave., sitting in cafes, having dinner, spending time with friends and family. Around 10 PM a lone gunman was seen walking down […]
Category: Perspectives
Here we go again. After more than 1,000 blogs on terrorism it is inevitable that my readers will encounter some repetition. While I have tried to keep my writings new and fresh it is perhaps – I hope! – understandable that some topics will rise to surface more than once. After all, there are simply […]
All of Canada is living through a real time manhunt as I type. Three people were killed in remote northern BC on July 15, a young American woman and her Australian travel mate as well as a 64-year old man from Vancouver. The suspects in the case, Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod, are believed to […]
This piece appeared in The Hill Times on July 22, 2019. As spy agencies go ours in Canada is not that different than others in the Western world. OK, CSIS does not have the sexiness of MI6’s James Bond and may not overthrow regimes like the CIA does but it does share many characteristics with […]
Ya gotta feel for Nigeria. This West African country is, and has been for some time, beset with all forms of violence, from organised crime to ethnic clashes to jihadi terrorism. In the latter category we have Boko Haram (BH), an Al Qaeda affiliate wannabe that has been very active since the late 2000s largely […]
Those of us fortunate to live in open democracies have certain expectations of those elected to serve us. And these expectations are reasonable. Like you have to be answerable to the electorate who gave you the opportunity to govern, and not just every four years when we go to the polls but every day. And […]
Most Canadians could be forgiven for not having a deep sense of what the Canadian intelligence community is or what it does. We seldom talk about intelligence matters and most references to these issues come out in the wake of mistakes, perceived or real. Think Air India or Maher Arar and you get an idea […]
When I worked at CSIS on counter terrorism investigations one phenomenon we would encounter on a regular basis was the role played by an individual we called the ‘radicaliser’. This person, or persons, could reside in the real world or online. S/he (to be honest it was usually a he) would generally have a charismatic […]
Suicide is not funny. Suicide bombing is likewise not a funny topic. Those who engage in such activities not only kill themselves but usually others and many of those others are truly innocent people. We might want to argue over whether a suicide attack on a military convoy or an army encampment is really terrorism, […]
How dangerous do you think terrorism is? How often do you think about it? Do you worry about attacks where you live? Have you witnessed an attack or, heaven forbid, been the victim of one? The answer you provide will depend crucially on where you live. If you are a citizen of many parts of […]