Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.ckom.com/2020/04/12/cov...arning-for-canada-intelligence-expert-says-2/
COVID-19 a ‘failure of early warning’ for Canada, intelligence expert says
Saskatoon / 650 CKOM
CKOM News
April 12, 2020 11:48 am
OTTAWA - It was last on a list of eight threat scenarios, but the danger of a global pandemic made the cut when the Liberal government issued a national security policy in 2004.
With the then-recent SARS outbreak in mind, the government said it would integrate its approach to public health emergencies with its national security agenda, including when drafting threat assessments.
The promise wasn’t fulfilled, leaving Canada woefully exposed during the COVID-19 crisis, says security-and-intelligence expert Wesley Wark.
“Despite the idea that we were going to do this with the national security policy, it just never happened,” said Wark, a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
Rather, Canada was left to rely on open-source information, including assumptions about timely and accurate reporting from countries like China that stood to suffer from the outbreak, he said in an interview.
“With regard to COVID-19, there has been a failure of early warning, and we are reaping the consequences of that.”
Did it really matter? All one had to do was turn on the news to see the empty streets of Wuhan and the escalating casualty figures.
Wark argues careful analysis of intelligence, including satellite imagery from allies, could have revealed signs such as China’s military movements, the sudden setup of medical facilities and activities around funeral homes - “a picture of the crisis that clearly the Chinese authorities, in the early days, were not anxious to publicize.”
A determination in mid-January that COVID-19 could hit Canada hard would have given the country a head start, allowing it to enact a strict travel ban, issue an advisory to stay home during March Break, replenish the national-emergency stockpile and begin buying personal-protective equipment for health workers, he said...
COVID-19 a ‘failure of early warning’ for Canada, intelligence expert says
Saskatoon / 650 CKOM
CKOM News
April 12, 2020 11:48 am
OTTAWA - It was last on a list of eight threat scenarios, but the danger of a global pandemic made the cut when the Liberal government issued a national security policy in 2004.
With the then-recent SARS outbreak in mind, the government said it would integrate its approach to public health emergencies with its national security agenda, including when drafting threat assessments.
The promise wasn’t fulfilled, leaving Canada woefully exposed during the COVID-19 crisis, says security-and-intelligence expert Wesley Wark.
“Despite the idea that we were going to do this with the national security policy, it just never happened,” said Wark, a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
Rather, Canada was left to rely on open-source information, including assumptions about timely and accurate reporting from countries like China that stood to suffer from the outbreak, he said in an interview.
“With regard to COVID-19, there has been a failure of early warning, and we are reaping the consequences of that.”
Did it really matter? All one had to do was turn on the news to see the empty streets of Wuhan and the escalating casualty figures.
Wark argues careful analysis of intelligence, including satellite imagery from allies, could have revealed signs such as China’s military movements, the sudden setup of medical facilities and activities around funeral homes - “a picture of the crisis that clearly the Chinese authorities, in the early days, were not anxious to publicize.”
A determination in mid-January that COVID-19 could hit Canada hard would have given the country a head start, allowing it to enact a strict travel ban, issue an advisory to stay home during March Break, replenish the national-emergency stockpile and begin buying personal-protective equipment for health workers, he said...