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PM praises benefit of sharing intelligence with the U.S. and others
Canada will continue as usual when it comes to sharing intelligence with allies, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says, even as U.S. President Donald Trump is being accused of playing fast and loose with sensitive secrets
Canada’s deeply entrenched role in the fight against global extremism is more focused these days on intelligence-gathering — and sharing — than on putting more boots on the ground in the Middle East, Justin Trudeau suggested Thursday.
“The track record has shown that collaboration and co-operation between allies, friends and partners has saved lives and keeps all of our citizens safe,” Trudeau said at the outset of a day-long NATO meeting in Brussels.
“We are going to continue to collaborate and to work together to ensure we’re doing everything we can to keep citizens and our communities safe.”
Trudeau brushed aside concerns that NATO’s agreement to increase intelligence-sharing
in the fight against terrorism comes amid accusations that President Donald Trump and others in the U.S. are playing fast and loose with sensitive secrets.
The White House has come
under fire in recent days over revelations that Trump shared Israeli intelligence in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. And the British government assailed U.S. officials for leaking sensitive details and crime-scene photos from the investigation into Monday’s deadly terrorist attack in Manchester.
Trump issued a statement Thursday saying the White House intends to get to the bottom of what he called “deeply troubling” leaks.
“The leaks of sensitive information pose a grave threat to our national security,” the statement said.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders spent Thursday hunkered down inside the sparkling new Brussels headquarters to discuss how they can better co-ordinate efforts in the fight against terrorism — and better share the cost of defence.
Their main motivation, though, was to woo Trump, whose country is a driving force behind the military alliance — a body he described as “obsolete” during last year’s election campaign.