Ottawa
Former senior intelligence officials are telling a federal inquiry into foreign interference there is room for Canada to be more transparent about national security issues.
Alan Jones, who was an assistant director at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, says although there are good reasons to protect security information, there are also ways to disclose more while protecting sensitive sources.
Dick Fadden, a former CSIS director, says the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia are much more open than Canada when it comes to security information.
The inquiry's initial public hearings are focusing on the thorny question of how to deal with the shroud of official secrecy around the controversial issue of foreign meddling.
The aim is to help identify ways to make information public, even though much of it comes from classified documents and sources.
The discussions on national security and confidentiality of information will help set the stage for the next public hearings, likely to take place at the end of March, on allegations of foreign interference in the last two general elections.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 31, 2024
Banner image via The Canadian Press
