Is This the CSIS We Really Want? The Canadian Intelligence and Black Ops Service0

• Analysis
• February 1, 2015

Published on the National Security Law Blog, January 31, 2015

The new antiterrorism bill will change everything.  Among other things, in its sweeping changes to CSIS’s powers, it is not tinkering at the margins. It rejects insight from experience, …

Canadian Mission Creep in Iraq? A CIPS Debate – Part 10

• Analysis
• January 30, 2015

For Parts 2 and 3 of this CIPS debate, see the posts by Thomas Juneau and Philippe Lagassé.

Published in the Globe and Mail, January 29, 2015

We recently learned that Canadian troops in Iraq are spending about …

Canadian Mission Creep in Iraq? A CIPS Debate – Part 20

• Analysis
• January 30, 2015

For Parts 1 and 3 of this CIPS debate, see the posts by Roland Paris and Philippe Lagassé

Published in the Globe and Mail, January 29, 2015

The government has faced mounting criticism since it announced that special forces’ …

The Anti-Terrorism Legislation Has Likely Been Oversold0

• Analysis
• January 29, 2015

Published in the Ottawa Citizen, January 28, 2015

The Canadian government has been beating the drum about the need for new counter-terrorism powers since the October, 2014 terror attacks in Quebec and Ottawa. A legislative package is finally scheduled …

Is Newfoundland Putting CETA At Risk?0

• Analysis
• January 23, 2015

On January 19, the Newfoundland government issued a news release that indicated that it was suspending its participation in existing trade agreements as well as trade agreements currently being negotiated by the Federal government. This means that the government of …

French Intelligence to Blame?0

• Analysis
• January 14, 2015

All terrorist outrages are inevitably followed by soul-searching and blame-seeking. Last week’s terrible events in France have followed the inevitable trajectory. While the French Republic’s security manhunt for the perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo and Jewish supermarket killings involved an …

15 Proposals for Canadian Foreign Aid0

• Analysis
• January 11, 2015

The French version of this essay was published on the Huffington Post Québec blog Un seul monde on January 8, 2015.

When the Harper government abolished the Canadian International Development Agency and transferred its functions to the newly renamed Department …

The Greatest Risk to UN Peace Operations0

• Analysis
• December 17, 2014

The greatest risk to United Nations peace operations is not operational failure, but the growing divergence of opinion among countries that mandate, finance and supply personnel to these operations regarding the purposes and practices of peacekeeping itself.

The UN currently …

All I Want for Christmas…Is for Bob Geldof to Be Quiet0

• Analysis
• December 10, 2014

When Sir Bob Geldof re-released the song ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ to raise money for Ebola victims, I decided against writing a blog about it. Bob does not need me to do his promotion, I thought, and sure enough …