In 1848, Lord Palmerston told the British House of Commons that England has no eternal friends and no eternal enemies, only eternal interests “and those interests it is our duty to follow.”
Recently, our national interests were brought into focus when Canadian Security and Intelligence Service’s watchdog, the Security and Intelligence Review Committee, raised the issue of whether Canada should have a “dedicated” foreign intelligence service.
Thirty years ago, the McDonald Commission Report led to the creation of CSIS. But the report also commented on the question of a Canadian foreign intelligence agency. The commission asked how much more security and intelligence information Canada would receive from its allies if it contributed more to the common pool. The answer was: “it is not unreasonable to suppose that the amount of intelligence available to Canada would increase.”
For more than 60 years, Canada has had a close intelligence relationship with key allies including the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand. It also shares intelligence with NATO allies. Our current intelligence product comes from various government departments, but the two most important agencies are CSIS for domestic security intelligence and the Communications Security Establishment for electronic communications.
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