Canada Must Weigh Creation of New Spy Service With 'Eyes Wide Open,' Study Warns

A new study urges Canadian politicians to consider any move toward creating a foreign spy service “with their eyes wide open,” warning that espionage is misunderstood and far from the fiction many associate with it. Written by former Canadian intelligence officials Alan Barnes and Geoff St. John, the paper says “virtually no Canadian” knows how espionage is actually carried out, and argues that politicians often rely on “romantic” ideas from books and films. The authors, publishing this month on the Policy Insights Forum website, also advise separating the work of officers from the agents recruited abroad. They caution that clandestine collection involves hostile, illegal acts in the operating country and describe how assumptions about infiltrating meetings are unrealistic. The study coincides with government updates to Canada’s national security strategy and parliamentary scrutiny by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.