Topic: Distrust of DND a threat to security

[ark]

Distrust of DND a threat to security
Federal agencies' suspicions about military have undermined anti-terror efforts, report says

Defence Department officials are not trusted by their counterparts in other federal agencies, making the development of a surveillance network to protect the country against terrorists and other threats extremely difficult, according to a report commissioned by the military.

The study, produced last year by a consulting firm for the Department of National Defence, warns that other government agencies are suspicious of their military counterparts when it comes to co-operation in sharing information. The Canadian Forces provides support to various federal departments in helping monitor the country's airspace and coastlines.

But some agencies believe that support is only grudgingly given by the Defence Department and any time the military is hit with a budget cut, such support is the first to be reduced. In addition, the agencies believe the Defence Department frequently uses its security regulations in an arbitrary way to avoid co-operation, according to the report examining the country's surveillance needs.

"Unless considerable trust can be established among potential partners, a national surveillance strategy will be very difficult to achieve," it concludes. "Unfortunately, DND is not fully trusted by many potential partners."

The report recommends a significant effort to build up trust between Defence and other agencies. It did not specifically identify the organizations that do not trust Defence officials, but it noted the development of a national surveillance network to respond to a terrorist attack or natural disaster would require the efforts of many federal departments.

The report was recently released under the Access to Information law.

A Defence official said in late December that no one would be available until mid-January to comment on whether the department has acted on the concerns raised in the report.

But in previous interviews, Canadian navy officers have noted they are working on improving the country's coastal surveillance capabilities and are leading a program to link various federal agencies in Ottawa together into one intelligence-gathering network. That $155-million program will see officials from Transport Canada, the Coast Guard, Canada Border Services, RCMP, the Fisheries Department and the military working closer together. The joint effort would keep tabs on everything from illegal fishing boats to terrorists and drug dealers. Military officials stressed they were fostering co-operation with various agencies.

David Harris, a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service official, said there have been some improvements since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in how Canadian federal departments share surveillance and intelligence information. "By and large the co-operation has been reasonable, but there is certainly room for improvement," said Mr. Harris, president of INSIGNIS Strategic Research, a private security firm.

He said one of the main obstacles in having departments co-operate on intelligence and surveillance matters is the different "cultures" and mandates of each federal agency. Military officials would approach issues much differently than their civilian counterparts, he added.

The report also points out there are currently about 400 surveillance and intelligence projects in various stages of development at the Defence Department, but there is no single agency co-ordinating these activities. In some cases, the projects overlap and those employees working on the programs are not even aware of the existence of similar programs.

The study suggests other government agencies should learn about the technology the Defence Department is developing so they can make better use of it. It notes, for example, that information provided by air force maritime patrols to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans makes up a significant portion of the surveillance information that agency receives. But Fisheries officials are likely not aware of the full details of a Defence Department project to upgrade surveillance sensors on its Aurora patrol aircraft and how that might improve information-gathering, the study added.

In addition, since government agencies have separate computer systems they cannot easily exchange information.

The report recommends the Defence Department should also develop better relationships with other levels of government.

http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=054cce36-f45b-4cf5-b778-b1f2edb7344d&page=2

I guess you get what you pay for

[E.R. Campbell]

Even more important, DND is distrusted by the only bureaucrats who really matter â “ in PCO and Finance â “ because officials appear not to understand their own bailiwick.   The CDS, especially, cries wolf again and again and then finds a way to come through when challenged.   The senior people in Finance are convinced that there is still 'fat' in DND and they, quite simply, do not believe the CDS or the DM or the MND.

But, big BUT: The report is wrong.

It concludes that â Å“the Defence Department should also develop better relationships with other levels of government.â ?

What is needed, urgently, is for other government departments to develop better relations with DND.

Most very senior bureaucrats have avoided service in DND like the plague â “ it is no way to get ahead, unless you do something exciting in the Materiel Group (and that may cost DND a billion or two by the time you've made your little mark).

Only the PCO can fix this and then only by ordering other Departments to make themselves compatible with DND when they share tasks or resources.   DND must make itself interoperable (compatible) with allied forces (ABCA, etc, firth, the NATO) and it is cost prohibitive and administratively and operationally silly to try to make DND both internally (other government departments) and externally (allies) compatible.   DND may have to require, for example, that Fisheries and Oceans buys new computer systems and crypto kit or do without e.g. intelligence, and then explain to its clients why it cannot do its job.

DND is, has been for years â “ even decades â “ a poor relation in Ottawa.   A long, long series of weak ministers and, too often, weak and inept DMs have made it a government whipping boy.   The new DM, Ward Elcock, http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/news.asp?id=244   may tough enough and 'bomb proof' and able to change that ... despite weak sisters in the persons of Graham and Henault.

[pbi]

I am going to challenge this.

I have a fair amount of experience in dealing with all three levels of govt with respect to military support to other governments and agencies, in a range of circumstances. These dealings have, I would say, been characterized by really shocking ignorance, absurdly false expectations, and a truly miserable inability to do operational planning at even the most basic level that would occur to a Lt,  on the part of most if not all of these civil agencies at one point or another. Typically, the civilian authority quickly attempts to offload as much of its job as possible onto the military, makes silly demands, and usually fails to demonstrate any meaningful comprehension of how the military functions, or why.

We are trapped to a certain extent that in order (IMHO) to curry "acceptability" with a normal indifferent (if not to say hostile...) govt we have taken on all sorts of functions which should properly be done by other government agencies, by a Civil Defence service, etc. Indeed from time to time we even produce individuals in our own ranks who seem to think that these things should assume an even greater profile than what they already have.

There is another side to the story and it isn't being told. Cheers.

[OLD F of S]

     DND has worked with various Govt agencies over the years such as RCMP, Fisheries and
Agriculture. The departments have used our ELINT products on numerous occasions. One instance
was the price they would set on grain exports to the former Soviet Union. IMHO they relied on and
trusted the information supplied by DND.


                         Regards OLD F of S

[pbi]

IMHO many of these organizations, (especially I am sad to say the various law enforcement agencies), could not organize a two-man rush to a three hole shitter. We should send them all on a PLQ. Cheers.

[RECON-MAN]

Strong leadership!Someone who is capable of coordinating the various agencies, and bring back the trust.