Canada’s top soldier and a deputy minister are cautioning members of the Canadian Forces against collaborating and exchanging information with militaries “whose interests diverge from our own.”
A statement posted on Thursday by Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre and Deputy Minister Bill Matthews raised concerns about former Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) pilots potentially sharing their knowledge and expertise with armed forces of other nations.
“(O)ur adversaries and competitors actively and aggressively strive to enhance their own capabilities, knowledge, and expertise by harnessing Canada’s experiences and those of our allies,” the statement emphasizes.
“All Defence Team members, civilian and military, serving and retired, must be aware of this stark reality. This is real.”
This warning comes after three weeks of the RCMP announcing an investigation into former RCAF members training Chinese fighter pilots. It also follows a report from last year indicating Beijing’s efforts to recruit pilots from NATO countries.
Eyre and Matthews urge CAF members to safeguard the information and skills they acquire throughout their careers, emphasizing that protecting this knowledge is essential for conducting activities and operations with allies and partners.
“Safeguarding this information is a cornerstone of our ability to conduct activities and operations, both at home and abroad with our allies and partners. Sensitive information and knowledge must be appropriately protected from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, transmission, disposal, or destruction,” they affirm.
Eyre and Matthews emphasize the importance of understanding that even unclassified information can be sensitive and disclosing it could harm Canada’s interests and those of its partners.
“Unauthorized disclosure or misuse of information can have severe consequences for Canada’s national security.”
The message highlights that the CAF and the Department of National Defense are enhancing their internal processes to provide clearer guidelines to employees regarding their responsibilities upon leaving either organization.
— with a file from Global’s Aaron D’Andrea
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Denial of responsibility! Vigour Times is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
