Ever since Michelle Shephard of the Toronto Star broke the news of a $35 million lawsuit by 5 CSIS employees I have agonised over what to write and even whether to write about this issue. I turned down several requests for interviews from major Canadian TV networks and a few radio stations since I did […]
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CSIS and the courts at loggerheads?
These past couple of months have not been good for Canada’s spy service. First, the Federal Court ruled that CSIS has been negligent in informing it of a programme whereby it ‘illegally kept’ data (which it had collected legally under warrant) on Canadians. Then there is the criticism that the Service shared questions with the […]
I know for sure that this blog is going to raise some hackles, especially among my US friends and colleagues. Why? Because I am going to argue that the current US counter terrorism architecture is inadequate to deal with the threat and needs a serious overhaul. The solution I am proposing, however, will go against […]
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CSIS and disruption
CSIS Director Michel Coulombe appeared before the Senate National Security and Defence Committee today and stated that his organisation has used its new disruption powers over twenty times since 2015. This measure was controversial when introduced by the former Conservative government and is still seen by some as too strong for a service that […]
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Lions and tigers and bears…FBI!
Season 4 Episode 1 – FBI go beast mode After a summer hiatus, the retired spies are back! Al, Neil and Phil shake off the dust and dive right back in to discuss national security issues amid good-natured (?) banter. From the FBI’s new ?policy? on bestiality, to the final (!) creation of the Foreign […]
Episode 354: Note to the Trump Administration: don’t ignore far right extremism! In politics, right and left are relative terms. Most people may self-describe as ‘centrist’, but we all have issues on which we lean more right (conservative) or more left (liberal). This is all natural, but what is not – and more importantly worrisome […]
Episode 353 – The terrorist group responsible for 9/11 appears to be growing…again! As we mark the 25th anniversary of the Al Qaeda (AQ) attacks in New York and Washington there is so much to reflect upon. The failure to stop the attacks and perceived holes in US intelligence. The two-decades long war in Afghanistan […]
Episode 352 – The effects of terrorist attacks do not stop in the days following the event We have all seen terrorist incidents unfolding before our very eyes, even if it is in the form of newscasts. Take 9/11, for instance. It is hard – if not impossible – to forget the image of fully-laden […]
Episode 351 – An old nemesis of the Taliban comes back to life! Remember the Northern Alliance? Founded in 1996, this group, led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, fought the Taliban jihadis until 2001 but seemed to disappear after Massoud was killed, two days before 9/11. Well, the group is back, sorta, and is led now […]
Episode 350 – Why mainstream media is an important window on national security National security is one of those sectors that is normally shrouded in secrecy and that is frustrating to many. Spy agencies do their jobs in the shadows and don’t disclose much but there is a need to know. Some of the gaps […]