Mohamed Amine Assal, 18, of Montreal has been arrested by the RCMP acting on information from the FBI and was expected to have a video court appearance today. No charges have been laid and the RCMP say the operation was designed to have Assal sign a peace bond because there were “reasonable grounds to fear that Mr. Assal may commit a terrorism offence.” [node:read-more:link]
Caroline Simard, the Commissioner of Canada Elections said today that she has launched an investigation into allegations of foreign interference in the last two federal campaigns. She said her office has received complaints about “10 situations” in the 2019 campaign and 13 in 2021. [node:read-more:link]
Effective February 28, all federal government mobile device will be banned from using Tik-Tok. Confirmed the decision today, Treasury Board President Mona Fortier said there is an “unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security” and the Chinese-owned social media app’s data collection leaves users vulnerable to cyberattacks. [node:read-more:link]
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said today that NORAD will takes a strong stance to protect Arctic sovereignty as more reports of foreign interference emerge. “We will challenge China when we ought to, and we will cooperate with China when we need to,” she said. “When it comes to issues over the Arctic within our maritime borders, or any form of foreign interference, we will be clear. [node:read-more:link]
U.S. intelligence officials believe that the Chinese balloon shot down by the U.S., and now in the hands of the FBI, is part of an extensive military surveillance program which has conducted at least two dozen missions over at least five continents in recent years. Roughly half have been into U.S. airspace, including the downed “weather” balloon which also entered Canadian airspace after being detected by NORAD. The debris now is being analyzed by FBI engineers in an attempt to learn what kind of intelligence it could have collected as well as how future incursions can be tracked. [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Justice Department of Justice has charged three suspects in a foiled plot to kill Iranian-American journalist and human rights advocate. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Iran had previously targeted the critic. [node:read-more:link]
Canada’s international reputation in question as Cameron Ortis, former head of the RCMP’s National Intelligence Coordination Centre, is again free on bail pending his trial on security violations in late 2023. [node:read-more:link]
Authorities in Estonia say two persons arrested in Tallinn November 20 for allegedly running a US$575-million cryptocurrency mining operation which was no more than an “elaborate Ponzi scheme.” Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin, being held for extradition to the U.S., are said to have convinced their victims to invest in the service and then used shell companies to launder the cash and buy real estate and luxury cars. [node:read-more:link]
The RCMP warned Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino during last winter’s “freedom” border blockade in southern Alberta that some protestors were willing “to go down with the cause.” He told the Emergencies Act inquiry today that it was “a threshold moment for me” as the government considered invoking the legislation because “lives literally hung in the balance.” [node:read-more:link]
A day before it invoked the Emergencies Act last winter to end the “Freedom Convoy” blockade of downtown Ottawa, the government was told by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service that the protest was not a threat to national security. Nor, according to CSIS documents released today by the public inquiry into the government’s action, was the protest supported by foreign state interests. [node:read-more:link]
A six-month police investigation has led to the arrest of two Ottawa residents on multiple weapons-related charges after a recent traffic stop on Highway 401 in eastern Ontario netted 46 pistols, long guns and magazines. One of the accused also was charged with possession of cocaine. [node:read-more:link]
A Ukrainian agent is being blamed by Russian counterintelligence for the weekend car-bombing death of the daughter of one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allies, a claim Kyiv dismisses as “fiction.” Darya Dugina was the daughter of Alexander Dugin, a political theorist who advocates for a Russian global resurgence. Both were attending an event outside Moscow and had planned to return by car but the father reportedly changes his plans at the last minute. [node:read-more:link]
Intelligence officers warned the government that if police were used to disperse the “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa earlier this year, according to a redacted memorandum made public through an Access to Information request. The February 24 “threat highlight” advised that extremist “influencers” would leverage the outcome of the protests for recruitment and propaganda and that ideologs likely would “encourage violent revenge or as further evidence of government ‘tyranny’.” [node:read-more:link]
Charles M. Lieber, a Harvard University professor and government-funded nanotechnology researcher, has been found guilty by a U.S. federal court of lying to the Department of Defense and other authorities about his ties to China. The jury finding is seen as a victory for the Justice Department amidst a crackdown on academic espionage. Lieber was arrested in January 2020 and evidence against him included a contract paying him $50,000 a month for work with the Wuhan Institute of Technology. [node:read-more:link]
Wanping Zheng, an engineer at the Canadian Space Agency, has been charged with breach of trust for allegedly using his status to negotiate satellite station installation agreements with Iceland on behalf of a Chinese company. The RCMP began investigating in 2019 in response to information from the CSA’s security department. [node:read-more:link]
