02-05 National Security

My life has not been as exciting as James Bond’s. But when the government asks you to sign The Official Secrets Act, it means you are going to have access to information that could be dangerous in the wrong hands.
Back in 1970, when I launched a protest against the federal government’s plan to overhaul the tax system, it took off to such a degree that it was seen by some as something to exploit, and by others as a national security threat.
I had my home swept for bugs, without knowing who might want to listen to things I would say. Apparently the people who do this work never really know who they are working for. They get cash from A, who gets cash from B, who gets cash from C.
During a crisis like the pandemic, when people’s attention is diverted, enemies will see opportunities. Like grabbing research data on new medicines and vaccines. Billions are at stake. It’s a hacker’s heaven.
And in 1971, a day after I had organized a large rally, an elderly stranger showed up offering help. He said he had a lot of friends in the mining business. And without even being able to offer him a chair, I said he should look after mining.
And three weeks later, to my complete surprise, 200, $25 cheques arrived from mining companies across Canada. My new friend was a former president of the Mining Association.
But what was so interesting was the RCMP filing a report to the government that that my organization was a front for the mining industry. For receiving 200 out of 4200 small cheques?
It was no wonder that matters of national security were taken from the RCMP in 1984 and given to a new group called CSIS, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Today, the RCMP is about policing only.
Another story from the past is also relevant. After a Congress of small business leaders from around the world in Warsaw, I was taken by one of the organizers to see his factory, cleverly hidden in a large barn. He was taking a brief case full of cash to pay his workers. He made a lot of the protective equipment that today is in short supply.
And, as soon as I arrived home I was contacted by the CIA in Washington, via a front organization, to inform me that my friend was a Russian operative with extensive knowledge of the Polish medical system. We had been followed.
And another relative story goes back to my grandfather who was in WW1. Something like 20-40 percent of the soldiers had the Spanish Flu. It was all kept secret for reasons of national security. You don’t want the enemy to know your weaknesses. The soldiers and sailors of Iran and North Korea, for example, may be much sicker from the Coronavirus than they are telling the world.
The shortage of what they call PPE is needed not just for those fighting the disease, but for those involved in national security. Apparently, the USS Fort McHenry, a US warship is quarantined because of the virus.
And surely all the developed nations will want to become self sufficient in the production and distribution of new medicines and vaccines. Governments know these viruses come back in a mutated form.
Hard to think of medicines and vaccines as weapons of war.