PM’s ex-security adviser calls system for flagging vital intelligence ‘ad-hoc’ and ‘inconsistent’
Vincent Rigby, who served as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security adviser from 2020 to 2021, told MPs┬аThursday that he fears “important and actionable” intelligence was not always pursued┬аduring his tenure.
Rigby told a parliamentary committee Thursday morning that he read between 5,000 and 7,000 intelligence reports during his 18 months in the job.
“But we did not have a formal system to flag important pieces of intelligence. What we had was ad-hoc and it was inconsistent,” he told MPs┬аstudying allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian politics.
“I was concerned that important and actionable intelligence was not being appropriately flagged or followed up.”
Rigby said that’s why, after he left the public service, he helped write┬аa report calling on the Canadian government to “wake up” and address what he called “systemic weaknesses in our national security system.”
“I was once part of that system┬аand I accept my share of responsibility for those failings. But my point is this тАФ even before the current storm over foreign interference, informed commentators were stating that our national security system was in peril,” he told MPs Thursday.
“A highly politicized debate over one specific area of intelligence, however important, seemingly assigned at assigning individual blame, is not the solution.”
The procedure and House affairs committee has been studying┬аan alleged Beijing plot to amass information on the family of Conservative MP Michael Chong in retaliation for his efforts┬аto recognize the persecution of Uyghurs as genocide.
‘Don’t wait for the crisis to happen’
The prime minister, the current national security and intelligence adviser and other cabinet ministers have all said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) never briefed them┬аon the Chong matter, and that they only learned about it from┬аreports in the┬аGlobe and Mail.┬а
“I am not surprised that this intelligence was not raised to the political level,” Rigby said. “This is where the system is particularly weak.”
Rigby recommended that Canada follow the example of its┬аFive Eye allies and set up a cabinet committee on national security. The prime minister should chair it and the committee should meet regularly, he said.
“Don’t wait for the crisis to happen,” he said.
“With Russia, with China, with pandemics, with climate change, all of these things are national security concerns.”
