More on What Detainee Reports Didn’t Make it Where
The latest from Defence Minister Peter MacKay, speaking during Question Period about what the heck happened to reports alleging abuse of detainees handed over by Canadians to Afghan authorities (via Hansard):
We receive hundreds, if not thousands, of reports annually through the Department of National Defence, as well as the Department of Foreign Affairs. That is why it did not make it to my desk …. I intend to hear from the Department of Defence, as well as foreign affairs, as to where this report stopped, because it did not make it to the deputy minister or my desk.
The blue bit, where the Minister says he may not have seen or read the report is not a huge surprise, given that Ministers don’t read EVERYTHING generated by their respective departments. Generally speaking, the Minister’s go-to’s for information are:
1) the Deputy Minister, or
2) political staff.
The green bit is interesting because it suggests some sort of system exists to share information of mutual interest between departments.
The red bit is interesting because it suggests that:
1) if PRT diplomat Richard Colvin sent his reports to his superiors in Foreign Affairs, the material may not have made it to the head bureaucrat there; and
2) it’s also possible that even if Foreign Affairs passed the reports onto DND, the head bureaucrat there may not have seen them, either.
Caveat: still early days, with more information to come.
Still, interesting…
