Security Clearance Backlogs Bedevilled RCMP as Ortis Allegedly Leaked Secrets

RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki in a file photo. A little-noticed Audit of Personnel Security, quietly made public last year, takes on new relevance following the arrest this month of RCMP intelligence official Cameron Jay Ortis. Lucki has said the allegations against Ortis, if proven true, are extremely unsettling, given that he had access to intelligence from domestic and international allies. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

OTTAWA—The RCMP was struggling to keep staff security clearances up to date during the time a senior employee allegedly tried to pass secrets to adversaries, an internal Mountie audit shows.

The audit report stressed the importance of regularly reviewing the security status of RCMP employees to guard against the threat of an insider betraying the national police force by sharing sensitive information with the wrong people.