scm77
12-04-2004, 05:25 PM
Understaffed RCMP can't fight terror
report: Mounties may receive tip about attack but be unable to act
James Gordon
CanWest News Service
December 4, 2004
A senior RCMP officer is worried the Mounties will one day have evidence of an impending terrorist attack in Canada, but will not be able to stop or disrupt it because of a lack of resources, a newly disclosed internal report shows.
"It is not a matter of 'if' but 'when' an incident will occur whereby the RCMP will be in possession of a piece of information and/or intelligence that could have been used to disrupt or prevent a terrorist act but could not act upon it because we were inadequately resourced to properly deal with it," the report says.
It was buried among 1,000 pages of heavily-censored RCMP papers released last week by the inquiry into the role of Canadian officials in the case of Maher Arar.
The "realignment report" for the RCMP's Anti-Terrorist Financing Group (ATFG) is blacked out in places and is missing one page altogether.
"If the human resource issue is not addressed we run the risk of jeopardizing the safety of Canada and its citizens as well as potentially embarrassing the Government of Canada and the RCMP on the domestic and international levels," the document goes on to say.
It is unclear exactly when the report was written, but it makes several references to the year 2003 in the past tense. It appears to have been authored by the officer in charge of the RCMP's National Security Investigations Branch (NSIB), whose name is blacked out at the bottom of the last page.
Other documents tabled at the Arar inquiry have identified the officer in charge of the NSIB as Inspector Rick Reynolds. His name appears on the front page of the report as the "initiative owner."
The author explains that 70% of national security investigations have substantial financial elements, but only 17 positions have been created nationwide to address the issue.
"As a result, the majority of units have a limited or non-existent capacity to conduct investigations of a financial nature," the author continues. "This in itself nullifies the financial intelligence program's ability to meet its mandate of gathering intelligence."
Anti-terrorism units attempted to make up for the shortage after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, by borrowing financial investigators from RCMP groups that do not have a national security mandate. The Commercial Crimes and Integrated Proceeds of Crime units are cited as examples.
Some of those investigators remain with anti-terror units today, thus risking neglect of other programs. The report describes present personnel working at "redline" capacity.
A spokeswoman for the force declined to discuss the new disclosure yesterday.
"The RCMP is fully co-operating with the commission -- that's why the documents were produced as required -- and it would be inappropriate to comment at this time," Corporal Monique Beauchamp said.
Wesley Wark, a national security expert with the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies, said the doomsday scenario presented might be "slightly exaggerated," but it indicates a real problem at the RCMP's core.
"There has been, since 9/11, a kind of hidden internal competition for resources," Mr. Wark said regarding departmental use of financial investigators. "There are a lot of different parts of government bidding for a small pool, so it's a sellers market."
Mr. Wark added that RCMP documents filed with the Arar commission have consistently shown that anti-terror funding has increased significantly since 2001, but it still cannot keep up with tasks.
© National Post 2004
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6f40bd8c-64a0-431c-827d-29a886aab980
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The good news is, if there ever was an attack, our military is fully trained and equiped to respond. yeah right
:roll: :roll:
report: Mounties may receive tip about attack but be unable to act
James Gordon
CanWest News Service
December 4, 2004
A senior RCMP officer is worried the Mounties will one day have evidence of an impending terrorist attack in Canada, but will not be able to stop or disrupt it because of a lack of resources, a newly disclosed internal report shows.
"It is not a matter of 'if' but 'when' an incident will occur whereby the RCMP will be in possession of a piece of information and/or intelligence that could have been used to disrupt or prevent a terrorist act but could not act upon it because we were inadequately resourced to properly deal with it," the report says.
It was buried among 1,000 pages of heavily-censored RCMP papers released last week by the inquiry into the role of Canadian officials in the case of Maher Arar.
The "realignment report" for the RCMP's Anti-Terrorist Financing Group (ATFG) is blacked out in places and is missing one page altogether.
"If the human resource issue is not addressed we run the risk of jeopardizing the safety of Canada and its citizens as well as potentially embarrassing the Government of Canada and the RCMP on the domestic and international levels," the document goes on to say.
It is unclear exactly when the report was written, but it makes several references to the year 2003 in the past tense. It appears to have been authored by the officer in charge of the RCMP's National Security Investigations Branch (NSIB), whose name is blacked out at the bottom of the last page.
Other documents tabled at the Arar inquiry have identified the officer in charge of the NSIB as Inspector Rick Reynolds. His name appears on the front page of the report as the "initiative owner."
The author explains that 70% of national security investigations have substantial financial elements, but only 17 positions have been created nationwide to address the issue.
"As a result, the majority of units have a limited or non-existent capacity to conduct investigations of a financial nature," the author continues. "This in itself nullifies the financial intelligence program's ability to meet its mandate of gathering intelligence."
Anti-terrorism units attempted to make up for the shortage after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, by borrowing financial investigators from RCMP groups that do not have a national security mandate. The Commercial Crimes and Integrated Proceeds of Crime units are cited as examples.
Some of those investigators remain with anti-terror units today, thus risking neglect of other programs. The report describes present personnel working at "redline" capacity.
A spokeswoman for the force declined to discuss the new disclosure yesterday.
"The RCMP is fully co-operating with the commission -- that's why the documents were produced as required -- and it would be inappropriate to comment at this time," Corporal Monique Beauchamp said.
Wesley Wark, a national security expert with the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies, said the doomsday scenario presented might be "slightly exaggerated," but it indicates a real problem at the RCMP's core.
"There has been, since 9/11, a kind of hidden internal competition for resources," Mr. Wark said regarding departmental use of financial investigators. "There are a lot of different parts of government bidding for a small pool, so it's a sellers market."
Mr. Wark added that RCMP documents filed with the Arar commission have consistently shown that anti-terror funding has increased significantly since 2001, but it still cannot keep up with tasks.
© National Post 2004
http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=6f40bd8c-64a0-431c-827d-29a886aab980
------------
The good news is, if there ever was an attack, our military is fully trained and equiped to respond. yeah right
:roll: :roll: