Canadians Should ‘Worry More’ About National Security, Says Former CSIS Director

Richard Fadden, National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, appears at Senate national security and defence committee in Ottawa on April 27, 2015. A former head of Canada's spy agency is warning that this country is resting too heavily on its laurels at a time of rising global threats and upheaval, including dysfunction among its Western allies and the emergence of China and Russia as aggressive adversaries. Richard Fadden, a former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and national-security adviser to prime ministers Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau, says Canada needs to take a hard look at itself to ensure it is ready to face its new reality. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

As parliamentary committees and government officials investigate alleged Chinese interference in Canada’s past two general elections, a former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) says Canadians should “worry more” about the country’s current state of national security and defence.

Richard Fadden, who served as CSIS director from 2009 to 2013 and was also Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security advisor from 2015 to 2016, recently penned a Globe and Mail column in which he expressed concern about the federal government’s response to a shifting geopolitical environment—which he said includes “the rise of an increasingly assertive China” and “Russia acting in total disregard of international law.”