I Got Posted 19

This one done in record time. One hour from start to finish. I do enjoy the stress of super-tight deadlines. Sometimes, anyway. At least this time I didn't have a crapload of other jobs to also contend with. My schedule has eased up a bit, thank goodness, so yesterday was actually a pretty relaxed day – I only did this illo for the National Post and a cartoon for the Bloor West Journal.

The article is written by Michael Ross, a former Israeli combat engineer and Mossad agent, now living in British Columbia. In this piece Mr. Ross discusses why Canada is still in the minor leagues of the world intelligence community, and why this has to change:

Canada's Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) recently issued a report expressing concern about CSIS' practice of sharing information with other nations - especially those such as Syria, which have poor human rights records. It is alleged that information provided by CSIS was used as a pretext for the United States to seize Maher Arar, and for Syria to torture him.

It is true that Arar's treatment was unfair and brutal. And it is tempting to respond to the episode by declaring that Canada will no longer share sensitive information with other nations. Unfortunately, that is not an option.

During the 1990s, I served  with the Mossad's international liaison division, Tevel, during which time I was the division's North American point man on counterterrorism issues. As such, I can attest that the exchange of intelligence between nations is critical to the battle against terrorism and other international threats.

The market for intelligence functions as a barter system: The value of the intelligence you get reflects the value of the intelligence you give. Unlike the CIA and Mossad, CSIS is a small player. And so it is very much at the mercy of the marketplace. If it stops providing other agencies with information, its own information pipeline will dry up. This would have a devastating effect. Consider that when I worked at the Mossad, Tevel brought in 60% of the Mossad's total intelligence intake.

Intelligence agents today have a harder job than they did in the days of the Cold War. In the past, you could offer a disaffected KGB officer a suitcase of money and he'd become your best friend. Today, Western intelligence agencies are trying to recruit from religiously motivated fanatics who don't care for money or cars or even life itself. Winning the war against these people will mean not only trading intelligence data with shady regimes, but also sending demographically appropriate agents to foreign Madrassas and  mosques under deep cover.

Comments

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Oh, if only I could draw like Mr. Gould!

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