MILNEWS.ca News Highlights – July 25, 2012
- Aussie Intelligence ponders the impact of the case of Jeffrey Delisle (who hasn’t been found guilty in court) – usual caveat about documents quoted without being shared with the readers “… Australian security sources have privately acknowledged that the security breach compromised intelligence information and capabilities across Western intelligence agencies, especially in the US and Canada but also including Australia’s top secret Defence Signals Directorate and the Defence Intelligence Organisation. Australia’s High Commissioner to Canada, Louise Hand, was briefed by the Canadian government on the case shortly after Delisle’s arrest on January 14. Information released under Australian freedom of information laws shows Ms Hand discussed the case with Stephen Rigby, National Security Adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. But her cabled report, classified ”secret – sensitive” and sent to Canberra on January 30, has been withheld in full on national security grounds. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation was also briefed on the Delisle case through liaison with its counterpart, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which also discussed the matter at a security conference attended by ASIO in NZ in February. Another Australian diplomatic cable dated February 1 that refers to the case has also been withheld in its entirety …”
- Here’s the big coast-to-coast announcement teased on Monday: ”The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, today announced the Canadian Forces Weather and Oceanographic Service (CFWOS) Transformation project. This announcement represents a major investment and its scope stretches across Canada, specifically at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Gagetown, CFB Esquimalt and CFB Halifax …. The CFWOS Transformation project involves a variety of infrastructure work, including the expansion of the former Army Meteorological Centre at CFB Gagetown, which will now house the new Joint Meteorological Centre. Other work also includes the renovation of the existing Meteorological and Oceanographic Centres at CFB Esquimalt and CFB Halifax. The Joint Meteorological Centre will centralize weather briefing and forecasting functions into a single facility at CFB Gagetown and allow personnel to develop new and improved weather specific products for the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces. The construction work associated with this project is scheduled to be complete by June 2014 ….” – more in the Backgrounder here, and from mainstream media here and here.
- No meeting with the Defence Minister for YOU (even if he’s in town)! “Union officials opposed to job cuts among civilian defence workers at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown say they’re disappointed three federal cabinet ministers refused to speak with them (yesterday). Members of the Union of National Defence Employees say they were told to remain a short distance from where Peter MacKay, Keith Ashfield and Bernard Valcourt were making an infrastructure announcement in New Brunswick. The union’s national president, John MacLennan says he wants to discuss why as many as 145 civilian employees at the base have received notices their positions could be affected by federal budget restraint. Ashfield, who is the federal Fisheries minister and the MP for the area, says he’ll meet with individual constituents, not unions. Defence Minister Peter MacKay told reporters that the return of troops from missions abroad means fewer civilian employees are required …”
- Meanwhile, Canada’s Veterans Affairs Minister holds “a roundtable meeting” with RC Legion members in Gaspé and Chandler, Quebec.
- “On behalf of the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, Greg Kerr, Member of Parliament for West Nova … announced a contribution of up to $18,292 to rebuild an Annapolis Royal memorial honouring area Veterans and those who made the ultimate sacrifice ….”
- Another public “welcome aboard” for some new officer cadets joining the CF
- One Columnist’s Take on What COULD HAVE Happened to Omar Khadr “… Coincidence or not, mainstream winds began to shift in Khadr’s favour almost exactly when the Conservatives came to power. You can argue the Conservatives have behaved more callously on the file, but it’s hardly the point. Conceivably — though by no means certainly — the Liberals could have gotten Khadr home and into some kind of mutually agreed deradicalization program before they had even left office. They didn’t even try. And they would have tried, if they had sensed any passion among their mushy-middle supporters for such a thing. But there was none, so they did nothing, and they get away with it even to this day …” – more here.
- “International experts on piracy are at Dalhousie University in Halifax this week to find a solution to a piracy problem that threatens seafarers as well as international trade and security, and costs the shipping industry billions of dollars annually. Over the last three decades, high-profile cases of theft and violence at sea range from people fleeing China on boats raided by Thai fishermen in the Gulf of Thailand in the late 1970s, to drug gangs attacking yachts in the Caribbean. Most people know about the recent problem with Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa, but fewer know about the more deadly recent trend in the waters off West Africa, said Hugh Williamson, who teaches marine affairs at Dalhousie and says piracy costs the shipping industry about $12 billion annually. “In the Horn of Africa, they are after hostages, they are taking the crew for hostage. In West Africa, they are after the cargos, and so the crew is a liability,” said Williamson ….”
- More on Eritrean government extortion to fill its defence coffers via its Toronto Consulate, according to a U.N. Report (83 page PDF) “… One man who said he fled Eritrea for Toronto in 2001 told the Star he first faced trouble with the city’s Eritrean consulate in 2004 when he arrived at the office seeking help to bring his wife and child to Canada. The man, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, said the consulate demanded that he pay the 2 per cent income tax for every year since he arrived in 2001 in order to receive the help he needed to reunite with his family. On welfare at the time, he would have had to pay $5 from every monthly welfare cheque and at first refused, he said. But “instead of losing my wife and son,” he said he changed his mind. His family arrived in Canada in 2005 …”
- Greeeeeeat… “A made-for-TV movie about Russell Williams scored a hit in its American premiere Saturday, attracting 2.4 million people to watch the grisly tale of the Canadian Forces colonel who is serving a life sentence for the murder of two Ontario women. Titled An Officer and a Murderer, the movie was shown exclusively on the Lifetime network in the U.S. A Lifetime spokeswoman said the movie “did very well for us,” adding there are plans to rebroadcast it. It will not be shown in Canada until sometime next month on The Movie Network. Early reviews by U.S. TV critics were favourable and cited Gary Cole’s performance as Williams as “creepy,” and described the movie as “riveting” in its portrayal of Wiliams’ double life as a respected military officer and a stalker and killer. In his review, New York Daily News critic David Hinckley said the movie “doesn’t go for suspense it goes for creepy, and thanks to Gary Cole in the lead role, it achieves that.” …” – more reviews here and here.
