The former head of BritainÂ’s foreign spy service says heÂ’s puzzled Canada doesnÂ’t have one of its own. Sir Richard Dearlove said today he finds it surprising Canada lacks a proper foreign intelligence service, and has resisted creating one. Dearlove says Canada could make an important contribution to its own national security interests as well as its major allies. He points to Australia, saying its external spy service has achieved a high degree of sophistication and success, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.
Dearlove says CanadaÂ’s CSIS has evolved into a world-class security service but lacks a clear-cut mandate to gather intelligence overseas. He told a gathering of security officials it would take 10 to 20 years for Canada to establish a genuine foreign spy outfit.
Dearlove headed BritainÂ’s Secret Intelligence Service, better known as MI6, from August 1999 until July 2004.