Category: Perspectives

We all want to be right. It sure beats being wrong. When we are wrong we make bad decisions that could cost us dearly. So unless you are some kind of masochist I wager that you would prefer to get things correct more often than not. Of course none of us is right 100% of […]

Here we go again. Another day another article on how Canada’s spy agency, CSIS, is intimidating, cowing and harassing university students while on ‘fishing expeditions’ on the nation’s post-secondary campuses. This practice has some concerned that Muslims in particular are ‘under the microscope’ and can lead to embarrassing situations that can effect their lives down […]

It has been a while since I have had legitimate occasion to quote the great New York Yankee catcher and inveterate mangler of the English language, Yogi Berra, but today is one of those days where I really need to lead off (get the baseball analogy??) with him. Of all the phrases he uttered over […]

Governments often do whatever they can to control messaging that reflects poorly on their mandates. This should not be of surprise to anyone as, like ruling parties, most of us do not want information that casts us in a negative light to gain wide exposure. With states it is a little different as these are, […]

Years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Brian Jenkins at a conference in Washington. For those who are not familiar with Mr. Jenkins’ work you would be hard pressed to find a terrorism scholar and analyst more seasoned than him. He was examining and writing about terrorism well before 9/11 and is still active. […]

Sigh. Another day another mass shooting in the US. Except that this time there were two mass shootings, back to back. On August 3 in El Paso, Texas a man opened fire in a Walmart, killing 20 and wounding 26 and a day later in Dayton, Ohio a gunman killed nine people. More needless deaths […]

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 […]

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 […]