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 […]
Search: “CSIS”
We found 1,092 results for your search.
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 […]
If I were to ask you what you really worry about – what you REALLY worry about not, for instance, when will a Canada-based hockey team finally win the Stanley Cup again – what would you respond with? What do you see as threats or situations that pose such a degree of danger to us […]
Categories
Would you shill for Usama bin Laden?
Canadian lobby firm should not be doing business with Sudan military.
Categories
CVE in Canada needs better scrutiny
This piece appeared in The Hill Times on July 8, 2019 If there is one buzzword that has gained a lot of ground in Canada and elsewhere in the post 9/11 period it is CVE (which stands for Countering Violent Extremism; sometimes it is also called PCVE – Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism). This field […]
Here is an extract from the CSIS Act for those who have not memorised it. It is from section 2, the section which outlines what CSIS has the authority to investigate: (b) foreign influenced activities within or relating to Canada that are detrimental to the interests of Canada and are clandestine or deceptive or involve a […]
Canada’s ‘listed terrorist entities’ program is an odd beast. It only came into force after 9/11 and that is odd in that terrorist groups certainly existed prior to that day. As we all know, however, 9/11 changed EVERYTHING when it comes to our reaction and responses to terrorism and I suppose the list was just […]
This piece appeared in The Hill Times on June 17, 2019. It might strike the reader as odd that someone with so much invested in counter terrorism is here making the suggestion that we need to worry less about terrorism. After all, if we stopped spending so much time talking about it, wouldn’t that put […]
How many of you remember when Canadian PM Justin Trudeau greeted Syrian refugees a few years back at Pearson Airport in Toronto with the phrase “You are home”? Some may have seen this as a cynical ploy and there were certainly those who criticised him for telling refugees that Canada would welcome them, especially as […]