A former Canadian intelligence official is warning recent cuts by the new U.S. administration to its intelligence agencies could position the country for “another 9/11.”
Dan Stanton, a former executive manager for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), said in an interview with The West Block’s Mercedes Stephenson that cuts are “degrading the efficiency” of the U.S. intelligence community, which could have a much bigger impact than just America’s borders.
“Breaking up the FBI, buyouts at the CIA, other agencies as well,” he said. “That is basically positioning the United States for another 9/11 and, by extension, Canada’s vulnerable. So weakened national security in the United States impacts on us.”
Last week, the CIA confirmed it had offered buyouts to employees to spur voluntary resignations.
It was a reversal of the initial plans for CIA and other national security agencies to be exempt.
At the end of January, the Trump administration also moved to fire prosecutors involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot criminal cases and demanded names of agents involved in those same probes to possibly cut them as well.
It was a move some bureau employees told The Associated Press could be a precursor to more expansive firings.
Asked what impact cuts to experienced intelligence officers could have, Stanton said it would mean the people who replace them may not know what they’re doing, causing the intelligence community to “lose our eye on the target.”
“So all those threats, whether it’s ISIS, whether it’s the Russians, Chinese, so on, there’s a risk that coverage is going to be disrupted as those agencies are turned inside, directed at Americans,” Stanton said.
“That also means American capability on, for example, counterterrorism is being reduced and it’s making the world a more dangerous place and that has implications for Canada.”
There’s also concerns among the intelligence community about whether changes made by the Trump administration could also limit what Canada has access to.
Vincent Rigby, a former top intelligence advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, told a crowd at the Canada Global Affairs Institute on Wednesday that he worried about intelligence being used as a negotiating tool to extract gains from Canada.
As part of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance, Canada benefits from national intelligence from Australia, Britain, New Zealand and the U.S.
Ottawa relies on information frequently from allies with much more expansive foreign intelligence systems, such as Britain’s MI6 and the American CIA.
But Stanton said while there are concerns about whether the U.S. could cut off intelligence sharing, he said if there were cutbacks it would mostly be in “non-threat foreign intelligence,” such as political or economic reporting that helps shape foreign policies.
“The lion’s share of the security intelligence which we get on weapons of mass destruction, terrorist attacks, espionage, spies, I seriously doubt any of that would be cut back because the people working in these agencies and American intelligence are professionals,” he said.
Even with it unlikely Canada would lose intelligence on things such as terrorist attacks or espionage, concerns remain on whether espionage by the U.S. itself could target Canada.
Trump’s former top aide Steve Bannon told Global News in an exclusive interview that the president is aiming for “hemispheric control.” Bannon does not speak on behalf of Trump, but is closely aligned with the president’s thinking.
A top aide to newly-minted CIA director John Ratcliffe also told The Wall Street Journal that Trump’s CIA would have a greater focus on the Western Hemisphere and would target countries not traditionally considered adversaries.
Stanton said that could translate to the U.S. targeting the federal government or the private sector to get information to support Trump’s tariffs and any subsequent trade war.
He said it’s “conceivable” that could include listening to phone calls, but it would take a “long time to do it.”
“That’s new in terms of a Five Eyes partner using all their architecture, all their resources of intelligence against Canada,” Stanton said.
“It also depends how much MAGA ideology seeps down into the core business of those agencies.”
Even with new directors at the helm, Stanton said intelligence officials don’t “immediately shift in terms of focus and priority,” which may allow Canada to continue to operate as it has been for the time being, with an expectation of limited change for at least a year or two.
However, he added he has concerns over changes being made below “executive level” in some agencies, saying it could change the culture.
“If you get significant changes in that culture from those appointments, then yes, the agencies are going to become A: inefficient and B: could be politicized and, you know, basically do whatever the president tells them to,” he said.
“It’s just a horrible situation, it’s horrible to watch what’s going on (in) the intelligence community, which in some ways is a canary in the mine as to what’s going on in the U.S. government.”
—With files from Global News’ Mercedes Stephenson, The Canadian Press, Reuters and The Associated Press