Months ago I wrote a blog piece (No way to run a railroad – June 1) about the shameful decision by the former federal government to remove Hamilton lawyer, Muslim leader, and all-around-good-guy Hussein Hamdani from the Canadian Department of Public Safety-led Cross Cultural Roundtable on National Security over scurrilous allegations in a Quebec muckraker […]
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It should come as a surprise to no one that many Western governments, including Canada’s, are struggling with what to do about their citizens seeking to travel abroad to join terrorist groups such as Islamic State. Measures to date have included passport revocation, peace bonds, monitoring and, where enough evidence is present, arrest and charges. […]
Keep calm and carry on
I have just returned from spending three wonderful days in New York City. Broadway. Central Park. American Museum of Natural History. Bryant Park. The city that never sleeps. And the city that is never far from the attention and aspiration of terrorists. When I used to work in security intelligence it always struck me that […]
And so the outrage begins. A Transport Canada report that states that terrorists could use legitimate, Charter-protected protest activity as a cover to carry out violence (see story here) has caused a kerfuffle. A director with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association has expressed concern that the report and its authors paints “(lawful) activism as a […]
One of the greatest challenges a society has to face with respect to the delicate balance between privacy and freedom of thought and national security has to do with when organs of the state are allowed to take an interest in the activities of its citizens when those activities are believed to constitute a threat […]
Refugees and terrorism
The debate on refugees has taken a nasty turn in Canada and the US. Some US Republican Presidential candidates have repugnantly suggested that the country take in only Christians. Several governors have refused to take in any refugees from Syria. In this country, several officials, including Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, have called on the Trudeau […]
Brothers in arms?
Last week I was asked to speak at the Canadian Military Intelligence Association annual conference in Ottawa. The speakers’ list included the Canadian National Security Advisor (and former Director of CSIS) Richard Fadden and Chief of Defence Staff General Vance. The day was well attended by members of the Canadian intelligence community. On the tables […]
Doing CVE right
With a new government sworn in yesterday in Canada, there is an added impetus to do CVE (countering violent extremism) in this country. We used to do it, and do it well, until a few – ahem unfortunate – phrases were dropped over the past year by certain government officials. We can now set that […]
Recognizing Al Qaeda-Inspired radicalization and terrorism in the West This textbook examines what drives Al Qaeda-inspired radicalization to violence, how to detect it, and how to confront it. The chapters discuss behaviors and ideologies that are observable and tangible in radicalized individuals or those on the path to violent radicalization. These behaviors are drawn from […]
Citizen Cain
Canada is a great country. We consistently rank among the best places in the world to live, according to various surveys. What we offer is clearly attractive if we consider the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, seeking to come here. And we accept, on average, a quarter million new residents every year. Many […]