Defence

Defence


Nuclear threat from Ukraine war prompts Ottawa to update plans for catastrophe

OTTAWA — Canada is dusting off and updating emergency protocols to deal with fallout from a possible tactical nuclear exchange in Europe or the spread of radiation across the ocean from a Ukrainian power plant explosion. Internal Public Safety Canada notes show the measures include updating a highly secret plan to ensure the federal government […]

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Feds doing ‘broader review’ of social media after banning TikTok from work devices

OTTAWA — After banishing TikTok from the mobile devices of public servants, the federal government is taking a look at possible threats from other social-media applications. The government said in February that TikTok, a wildly popular app for sharing short videos, posed an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security. Federal officials are conducting […]

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After secret documents leak, Pentagon plans tighter controls to protect classified information

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon on Wednesday announced plans to tighten protection for classified information following the explosive leaks of hundreds of intelligence documents that were accessed through security gaps at a Massachusetts Air National Guard base. Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, 21, is accused of leaking the highly classified military documents in a chatroom […]

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Watchdog’s relations with spy community ‘particularly strained’ over last year

OTTAWA — Newly released documents say the intelligence community’s relationship with its key watchdog has been particularly strained over the last year due to a “level of resistance” to scrutiny. The assessment appears in briefing materials prepared for Canada’s top public servant in advance of a late January meeting with the chair of the National […]

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Pentagon leak suspect was warned multiple times about mishandling of classified information

BOSTON (AP) — Superiors of the Massachusetts Air National Guard member charged with leaking highly classified military documents had raised concerns internally on multiple occasions about his handling or viewing of classified information, according to a court filing Wednesday. Justice Department lawyers made the disclosure in a court papers urging a magistrate judge to keep […]

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‘Systemic difficulties’ hampered review of Canada’s cyberspy service: watchdog

OTTAWA — A culture within Canada’s cyberspy service of “resisting and impeding” independent review has frustrated efforts to ensure it is obeying the law, say newly released documents from the federal intelligence watchdog. The unusually candid National Security and Intelligence Review Agency records from 2021 are the latest evidence of the watchdog’s irritation at trying […]

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Defence Department expecting clarity on cost of new warship fleet later this year

OTTAWA — The Defence Department’s procurement chief is hoping to have a better sense by the end of the year as to how much Canada will have to pay to build a new fleet of warships for the Royal Canadian Navy. In an interview with The Canadian Press, assistant deputy minister of materiel Troy Crosby […]

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How views of Pierre Trudeau led RCMP to provide first close security for an ex PM

OTTAWA — With threats against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spiking in recent years, newly released historical records reveal the security concerns the RCMP had when his father was getting ready to leave office. Pierre Trudeau retired in 1984 after serving as prime minister for two stints adding up to 15 years. He had been first […]

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Climate change threatens Canadian security, prosperity, warns stark spy agency brief

OTTAWA — Canada’s spy service warns that climate change poses a profound, ongoing threat to national security and prosperity, including the possible loss of parts of British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces to rising sea levels. A newly released analysis by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service also foresees an increase in ideologically motivated violent extremism […]

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No foreign interference report more than one year after Liberal government re elected

OTTAWA — Canadians still do not have access to an assessment of the work done by a panel tasked with flagging incidents of foreign interference during the last election in 2021. The Critical Election Incident Public Protocol was created to monitor and report on threats to the 2019 election with a mandate to continue its […]

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Canadians gleaned naval intelligence from Russian defector, newly released files show

OTTAWA — The young Russian seaman who turned up exhausted and bleeding on the British Columbia shore struck a Canadian intelligence official as well mannered, sincere and athletic, built like Tarzan of the movies. Less than two years later, defector Sergei Kourdakov would die in a California motel room — apparently by accidentally shooting himself — after […]

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