Intelligence Community: Information Act and Government-Commissioned Study

intelligence community: Wark began work in the late 1990s on the government-commissioned study of how Canada's intelligence community evolved in the years following the Second World War, according to CTV. Much of the book-length manuscript, based on classified files, was released under the Access to Information Act in 2005, but considerable portions were considered too sensitive to disclose. Officials became sufficiently nervous about the tasking of Canadians -- and the prospect of being caught snooping overseas -- that they had John Diefenbaker, prime minister at the time, give his blessing, reveals a study by intelligence expert Wesley Wark. Additional details of the intelligence effort to conscript travellers were released to The Canadian Press following a complaint to the information commissioner. But officials were conscious of the value of trying to provide some Canadian intelligence from human sources, especially to ensure favour with Canada's more powerful partners, such as the U.S. and Britain, notes Wark, who teaches at the University of Ottawa. Canada decided against creating a secret intelligence service to spy abroad in the early phase of the Cold War. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.