Search: “CSIS”

Life is all about making choices, whether this applies at the level of the individual or the state.  Presumably both types of decisions are aimed at contributing to the personal or common good, and both are constrained by resources, financial or otherwise.  Decisions have consequences since electing one path means rejecting another one or several […]

Ottawa has a gang problem.  This should come as a surprise to no one as Ottawa is a relatively large city (more or less  a million people) and most big cities are plagued with similar issues.  We should note that the size of the gang issue in the nation’s capital is not nearly as serious […]

As we strive to learn more about why people adopt violent extremist views and, more importantly in my opinion, try to determine which people pose a real threat to society, we often find ourselves in areas we would not have expected.  We need to exhaust every avenue, no matter how outside the box, for two […]

Canadians are funny people.  I don’t mean funny ha-ha although we do have a pretty good track record of comedians (Jim Carey, Mike Myers, Samantha Bee, John Candy, Catherine O’Hara – I am sure I am missing other great comics).  I mean we want our security and intelligence agencies to stop terrorism but we don’t […]

First of all kudos to the Trudeau government for its recent announcement on funding for counter radicalisation and community engagement.  $35 million over five years is an excellent start and, although details are wanting, the government sees the new “Office of the Community Outreach and Counter Radicalisation Coordinator” as a leadership post for Canada’s efforts. This […]

In the wake of the horrendous attacks in Brussels this week, there has been a cascade of stories, op-ed pieces and analyses of the event, ranging from why Belgian security services did not prevent it to whether more are on their way.  Political scientist, sociologists and even a few former spies have weighed in, and […]

I learned a long time ago not to jump to conclusions based on very little information (a cardinal sin in intelligence analysis).  Hence some of this post will be tenuous in nature.  I am writing of course on the attack at a Canadian Armed Forces recruiting centre in Toronto on March 14th in which a knife-wielding […]

It is often a difficult question for governments to decide which activities to allow and which to ban. There are clear cases where certain actions should not be tolerated, like murder for instance, and we have laws to take care of those.  Some argue, however, that governments should just stay out of our lives, that […]

One of the more interesting promises made by the Canadian Liberal government has been the announcement of the creation of a national Office of Counter Radicalisation to be housed within the Department of Public Safety.  Minister Ralph Goodale made reference to this project again yesterday, noting that the office will work with communities and security […]