National Post (National Edition)
RCMP official accused of breach had access to allies’ intelligence
A senior civilian RCMP intelligence official accused of breaching Canada’s secrecy laws had access not only to this nation’s classified information but the sensitive files of our allies abroad, the head of the force confirmed Monday.
Commissioner Brenda Lucki said in a statement that the allegations against Cameron Ortis had “shaken” members across the force and that the authorities were working to determine the potential damage.
“We are aware of the potential risk to agency operations of our partners in Canada and abroad and we thank them for their continued collaboration,” Lucki said. “We assure you that mitigation strategies are being put in place as required.”
The CBC reported on Monday that it had obtained documents from national security oversight agencies that concluded if released the stolen intelligence would cause a “high” degree of damage to Canada and its allies and it would cause “grave injury to Canada’s national interests.”
“This type of information is among the most highly protected of national security assets, by any government standard and goes to the heart of Canada’s sovereignty and security,” the documents said, according to the CBC.
Ortis, 47, director-general of the RCMP’s National Intelligence Co-ordination Centre, joined the RCMP in 2007 and quickly rose up the civilian ranks. The centre gathers intelligence and develops analytical tools on a range of files related to national security, including terrorism, cyber attacks and transnational crime.
“By virtue of the positions he held, Mr. Ortis had access to information the Canadian intelligence community possessed. He also had access to intelligence coming from our allies both domestically and internationally,” Lucki said.
Ortis, arrested last Thursday in Ottawa, is accused of violating various sections of the Security of Information Act. It is alleged that between February and May 2015, he communicated “special operational information,” which encompasses information related to confidential sources, military operations and covert techniques.
But experts cautioned Monday that communicating, in this instance, doesn’t necessarily mean that information was disclosed; it could be that it was just made available or offered for sale.
It is also alleged that between September 2018 and this month, Ortis took preparatory action to access information — including possessing a device or software useful for concealing or surreptitiously obtaining information — in order to share it with a foreign entity or terrorist organization.
But again, it remains unclear if information was successfully handed over or not — and who the intended recipient may have been.
The investigation into Ortis stemmed from a major international money-laundering and drug-trafficking probe last year involving the FBI and police in Canada, Australia, Panama, Hong Kong and Thailand, Global News reported Monday.
The probe centred on a Richmond, B.C., man, Vincent Ramos, who admitted to investigators that his company, Phantom Secure, helped to facilitate the flow of cocaine and other drugs around the world by supplying high-level traffickers with encrypted communications devices designed to thwart law enforcement.
Global News reported that following Ramos’ arrest in Washington state in March 2018, authorities learned that sensitive RCMP information had earlier been offered for sale. “While Ramos did not know the identity of the person allegedly brokering the RCMP information, Canadian investigators traced it to a list of suspects who had access to it.”
Ramos was subsequently sentenced to nine years in a U.S. prison.
Experts say it’s possible authorities are aware of other offences and more charges are coming, or it’s possible Crown prosecutors are being more circumspect, like when they decide to charge a mobster with tax fraud.
“These are really hard cases, the more you charge the more you have to prove in open court,” said Leah West, a lecturer specializing in national security issues at Carleton University.
“There’s too little information to know the precise scope of what (Ortis) engaged in.”
Michael Nesbitt, a law professor at the University of Calgary, agrees. Speaking on the national security podcast Intrepid on Sunday, Nesbitt said it’s possible prosecutors don’t have evidence to charge Ortis with sharing information or they don’t want to because it’s easier to just charge him with preparing to do it.
“You may not want to charge them with actually sharing the information … because then you have to prove who he was sharing it with and that can be tricky in court,” he said. “You can have some concerns about whether you can prove beyond a reasonable doubt, for example. You may not want to name the other country.”
It was not clear Monday what, if any, sensitive case files belonging to our allies may have been compromised. The Post contacted several government agencies in the United States and Britain. The FBI responded with a brusque: “We do not have a comment.” Others did not immediately respond.
Ortis, who remains in custody, is due back in court on Sept. 20. None of the charges have been proven.
The RCMP commissioner is scheduled to provide an update on the investigation on Tuesday.