Suspected RCMP Secrecy Breach Fallout Upgraded to ‘Severe’: Newly Released Documents

Cameron Ortis, a senior intelligence official at the RCMP, leaves the courthouse in Ottawa after being granted bail, on Oct. 22, 2019. New documents show Canada’s cyberspy agency was so alarmed by the potential fallout from an alleged secrecy breach by Ortis that it revised a damage assessment to “severe” from "high" in the days after his arrest. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

OTTAWA—New documents show Canada’s cyberspy agency was so alarmed by the potential fallout from an alleged secrecy breach by a senior RCMP employee that it revised a damage assessment to “severe” from “high” in the days after his arrest.

Cameron Jay Ortis was taken into custody in September 2019 for allegedly revealing secrets to an unnamed recipient and planning to give additional classified information to an unspecified foreign entity.