Increased scrutiny of Canada’s intelligence culture is overdue
Security intelligence is meant to ascertain the identity, capabilities and intentions of adversarial actors. The whistle-blower on election interference who has been leaking intelligence assessments to The Globe and Mail is putting everything on the line: the person risks jail time, the revelations could well bring down the government (which would be a form of interference in itself, if the intent were partisan), and the actions could be injurious to the country’s reputation.
Yet, the government’s sympathizers have been quick to the draw: it is a single anonymous source; the person is disgruntled; it’s a handful of documents with a narrow range of topics; the accounts are parochial; this is racist stereotyping of Chinese-Canadians; it had no impact on the election outcome; etc.
