Joly seeks more intelligence sharing with Europeans as U.S. drifts from Ukraine

OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Ottawa wants to deepen intelligence sharing with European partners, as longtime ally Washington diverges from Canada on issues like Ukraine.

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“We’re now living in a much more dangerous and complicated world,” Joly told reporters Monday. “It’s in full display.”

Joly was speaking at a virtual news conference from London after talking to U.K. National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell.

In recent weeks, experts have expressed concern about some of the intelligence officials appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump. National intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard has been accused of spreading false information, and FBI chief Kash Patel has talked about retribution for intelligence agencies that don’t align with Trump.

Observers have also raised concerns about Trump issuing security clearances to White House staff who haven’t completed the usual vetting process.

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Joly would not specify whether she shares these concerns when asked Monday. But she said she seeks deeper intelligence collaboration with Australia, Britain and others.

“In order to protect our interests and protect our people, we need to be able to understand what is going on in the world, and more than ever we need to have a strong security partnership with the U.K. and other European allies,” Joly said.

She said Ottawa is particularly concerned by the U.S. voting against Canada and its allies Monday on a United Nations resolution that blamed Russia for invading Ukraine and voiced concern for Ukraine’s sovereignty.

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Steve Hewitt, an intelligence researcher who teaches Canadian studies at the University of Birmingham in Britain, said the UN vote is exceptional, and so is Trump appointing partisans into intelligence positions that for decades had been apolitical posts.

“All bets are off,” he said. “We’re in a completely different environment than what has existed in the past.”

Vastly different countries that make up the G20 said at a summit in South Africa last week that they are trying to navigate these global shifts, Joly said.

“Because of the U.S. changing positions on engagement in the world — and particularly when it comes to Ukraine — it is impacting the relationship that lots of countries have with the U.S., but also (the relations) lots of countries have between themselves and the world.”

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She added it’s important that Canada “be able to rally some countries that are not typically allies, but that could have the same interests, in ultimately creating new coalitions.”

Joly said Ottawa must have “a working relationship” with countries with which it has disagreements, such as South Africa, India and Saudi Arabia.

Wesley Wark, a senior fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said Ottawa needs to respond to the “politicization of intelligence” under Trump, including political appointments like Gabbard and Patel that could pose a danger for Canada.

He said Canada deliberately chose a “position of dependency” that relied on American intelligence to inform everything from domestic criminal investigations to foreign policy, with Canada providing the Five Eyes specific “niche missions” based on geography or the access held by Canadian agencies.

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“The entire foundational philosophy of the Canadian intelligence system, in terms of its capabilities, in terms of its focus, is based on reliable, ongoing, massive access to Five Eyes intelligence, primarily these days from the United States,” he said.

“The old great bargain is no more. We’re going to have to do more of the intelligence heavy lifting ourselves.”

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On Tuesday, a media report claimed that Trump’s trade counsellor Peter Navarro had suggested Canada be removed from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance if trade issues persist — a report Navarro dismissed as “nonsense” that same day.

“That was just crazy stuff,” he told reporters. “We would never, ever jeopardize our national security, ever, with allies like Canada.”

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The alliance also includes Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.

Hewitt noted that despite Navarro’s denial of the report, Trump and his associates seem to frequently raise outlandish ideas and see how people react.

“He likes to float trial balloons, through these means of trolling,” he said. “They’re obviously potentially looking at weak points, in terms of Canada.”

Wark said the ideas attributed to Navarro can now be used as leverage against Canada.

“It doesn’t matter whether Navarro said this or not — the idea is out there now in Trumpland, and it can be weaponized if the Trump administration decides.”

Wark said Ottawa should watch for whether Washington blocks intelligence from being shared with Canada, and that it should be particularly concerned about whether the U.S. shares closely protected sources and methods with Moscow.

Wark said Canada should also be deploying intelligence attaches to foreign capitals who can speak on behalf of multiple agencies and not solely be affiliated with the RCMP or the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. He suggested this would start with Nordic and Baltic countries that understand Russia, and expand to countries like Japan and South Korea.

“Canada is going to have to be able to put skin in the game and say we have these intelligence capabilities and analytical capabilities and technological tools that we’re willing to share with you.”

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