Jeffrey Deslisle-former RCN, convicted of spying

[Bruce Monkhouse]

He''ll be home before 90% of you guys a new posting.....

 

[kratz]

and after CRA gets ahold of the court documents and "readjusts" his taxes years for that income, plus fines and penalties
Delisle will owe almost 2.3million.

My math says it will take him 125 years at a minimum wage job, paying 100% of his pay for 35 hours per week to pay this court order off.

 

[Bzzliteyr]

Ref: what the CDS said, are we not the "Canadian Forces"?  I thought we dropped the "armed" part a while back?

 

[The Bread Guy]

Ref: what the CDS said, are we not the "Canadian Forces"?  I thought we dropped the "armed" part a while back?

National Defence Act says ....

.... 14. The Canadian Forces are the armed forces of Her Majesty raised by Canada and consist of one Service called the Canadian Armed Forces ....

Mind you, it refers to the "Canadian Forces" in the rest of the describing the different components bits.  Sounds like "legal name" vs. "everyday" name.

 

[CombatDoc]

Ref: what the CDS said, are we not the "Canadian Forces"?  I thought we dropped the "armed" part a while back?

The "Armed" is apparently back in vogue, and I have noticed increasing references to CAF vice CF.  I have not yet seen anything official regarding a name change, however.

 

[garb811]

I saw an email to that effect last week.  Trying to recall the originator, might have been the VCDS shop...

 

[old medic]

The Canadian Press
13 Feb 2013
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/navy-spy-who-sold-secrets-to-russia-stripped-of-rank-pay-1.1155543

OTTAWA - Former naval officer Jeffrey Delisle, who spied for the Russians, has been stripped of his commission and his military service decorations.

National Defence also announced the former intelligence officer will forfeit his severance pay, and the federal government will move immediately to recover the salary paid to him since his arrest in January 2012.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay says the actions of Delisle, a former sub-lieutenant, are intolerable and inexcusable.

Last week, Delisle was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges under security-of-information laws for passing top secret information to the Russians over a five-year period.

It's the second time in just over two years that the Governor General has been asked to revoke the commission of a serving officer.

 

[jollyjacktar]

It's a good start.  I hope they burn his uniforms too.

 

[jeffb]

The real winner here is the guy who took over his job. Pretty hard to screw up that one. "Well, at least you didn't sell secrets to the Russians."

 

[cupper]

The real winner here is the guy who took over his job. Pretty hard to screw up that one. "Well, at least you didn't sell secrets to the Russians."

But he probably has to go to and from his workspace naked. And the daily cavity search would hell.

 

[The Bread Guy]

The Info-machine version of the announcement ....

Upon the recommendation of General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, has approved the release of Jeffery Paul Delisle from the Canadian Armed Forces and has revoked his commission. 

“The unauthorized disclosure of national and allied intelligence is both unconscionable and intolerable.  Mr. Delisle’s actions were clearly not consistent with the high degree of integrity and loyalty to Canada that we, as Canadians, expect from our sailors, soldiers, airmen and airwomen,” said the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence.  “Following the sentencing on Friday, the Canadian Armed Forces immediately undertook the required and appropriate action to review his file and ensure that all appropriate administrative measures are taken.”

“Mr. Delisle’s actions were neither excusable nor defensible. He broke the law, violated our core values of integrity and honour, and his actions were reprehensible,” said General Lawson. “He has demonstrated that he is neither worthy of the trust and confidence of the Crown, nor of his country. As a result of his misconduct Mr. Delisle has been released from the Canadian Armed Forces and his commission has been revoked.”

Mr. Delisle’s release for reasons of “service misconduct” will result in the following additional consequences:

•Mr. Delisle forfeits his Canadian Forces Decoration (a medal);
•Mr. Delisle forfeits his entitlement to severance pay; and
•Action will be taken to recover his pay from the date of his being arrested and taken into custody.
On behalf of Her Majesty The Queen, the Governor General grants commissions to all officers of the Canadian Armed Forces. These commissions are held at the pleasure of and can be revoked by the Crown.

.... and what the Minister had to say:

“National and allied intelligence is fundamental in ensuring the safety of Canadians and our Government remains committed to its protection.

“Mr. Delisle’s unauthorized disclosure of secret information is intolerable, inexcusable and inconsistent with the integrity and loyalty that Canadians expect from their men and women in uniform. 

“Last Friday’s sentencing confirmed that Mr. Delisle not only violated Canadians’ trust, but also broke our laws, and the Canadian Armed Forces undertook an immediate review to determine appropriate consequences to his actions. 

“This review is now finalized and its results are known to Mr. Delisle. 

“Upon the recommendation of General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, has approved the release of Jeffrey Paul Delisle from the Canadian Armed Forces and has revoked his commission.

“In addition, Mr. Delisle will forfeit his Canadian Forces Decoration, and his entitlement to severance pay. The Department of National Defence will also take the appropriate action to recover Mr. Delisle’s pay from the date of his arrest to the current day.

“I assure Canadians that our Government continues to enhance our security procedures. In recent years, the Department of National Defence has undertaken a complete functional review and rewrite of our security policy suite and has been working with other department bodies to synchronize and adopt best practices.  In October 2012, we established a Director General Security Transformation organization aimed at charting the future for defence security policy."

 

[agc]

Navy spy eligible for conditional release in 3 years

The Parole Board of Canada says a former Halifax naval officer convicted of spying for Russia is eligible for conditional release in three years.

Jeffrey Paul Delisle was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges under security-of-information laws for passing top secret information to Russia over a five-year period..

But the judge presiding over his case ruled that when time already served is taken into account, Delisle's sentence is 18 years and five months.

The parole board said Delisle becomes eligible for unescorted temporary leaves in March 2016 and day parole in September 2018.

He is eligible for full parole a year later.

A decision on whether Delisle would be granted parole is made by the board after a review of his case or a hearing.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Jeffrey Delisle, the former Halifax naval officer who sold secrets to Russia, will not appeal his sentence.

He is serving 20 years in prison. He received credit for the 1½ years he spent in custody after his arrest.

Now, his lawyer, Mike Taylor, says his client will not appeal.

He said it would be difficult to convince an appeal court the judge made an error in law.

"It's not essentially another kick at the can. It's something where you have to point out a mistake has been made. I think the chances would be remote. Based on a number of discussions about those reasons, Mr. Delisle has instructed me he doesn't want to appeal," said Taylor ....

CBC.ca, 8 Mar 13

 

[GAP]

CSIS knew of convicted navy spy’s activity but held file back from RCMP
Jim Bronskill and Murray Brewster  The Canadian Press  Sunday, May. 26 2013
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/csis-knew-of-convicted-navy-spys-activity-but-held-file-back-from-rcmp/article12158482/

Canada’s spy agency clandestinely watched a navy officer pass top secret information to Russia for months without briefing the RCMP – a previously unknown operation that raises questions about whether Jeffrey Delisle could have been arrested sooner.

The Canadian Press has learned that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation alerted the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to Delisle’s illicit dealings with Moscow well before the Mounties took on the file in December, 2011, and later brought him into custody.

CSIS ultimately decided not to transfer its thick Delisle dossier to the RCMP. The spy agency, acting on legal advice, opted to keep its investigation sealed for fear of exposing a trove of Canadian and U.S. secrets of the intelligence trade in open court proceedings.

In a bizarre twist, it fell to the FBI – not CSIS – to send a letter to the RCMP spelling out how a Canadian was pilfering extremely sensitive information, including highly classified U.S. material.

The RCMP had to start its own investigation of Delisle almost from scratch. The delay alarmed and frustrated Washington as the geyser of secrets continued to spew.

At one point the Americans, eager to see Delisle in handcuffs, sketched out a Plan B: luring the Canadian officer to the U.S. and arresting him themselves, perhaps during a stop-over en route to a Caribbean vacation.

The RCMP and CSIS are supposed to be able to “seamlessly hand off cases back and forth between them,” said intelligence historian Wesley Wark, a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa’s graduate school of public and international affairs.

He said “it is deeply troubling” if the system indeed broke down in the Delisle case over CSIS’s refusal to share its files or to bring the RCMP in at an early stage.

“I think that’s scandalous, in fact,” said Wark, who served as an expert witness at Delisle’s sentencing. “And it would be a matter, I think, for a judicial inquiry or certainly a serious parliamentary investigation.”
more on link

 

[jollyjacktar]

Bunch of friggin wankers.  At least the ones I had dealings with were wankers...  we're our own worst enemy sometimes.

 

[Edward Campbell]

More on the Jeffrey Delisle case, especially regarding CSIS/RCMP non-cooperation in this report which is reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Globe and Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/csis-knew-of-convicted-navy-spys-activity-but-held-file-back-from-rcmp/article12158482/#dashboard/follows/

CSIS knew of convicted navy spy’s activity but held file back from RCMP

JIM BRONSKILL AND MURRAY BREWSTER
OTTAWA — The Canadian Press

Published Sunday, May. 26 2013

Canada’s spy agency clandestinely watched a navy officer pass top secret information to Russia for months without briefing the RCMP – a previously unknown operation that raises questions about whether Jeffrey Delisle could have been arrested sooner.

The Canadian Press has learned that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation alerted the Canadian Security Intelligence Service to Delisle’s illicit dealings with Moscow well before the Mounties took on the file in December, 2011, and later brought him into custody.

CSIS ultimately decided not to transfer its thick Delisle dossier to the RCMP. The spy agency, acting on legal advice, opted to keep its investigation sealed for fear of exposing a trove of Canadian and U.S. secrets of the intelligence trade in open court proceedings.

In a bizarre twist, it fell to the FBI – not CSIS – to send a letter to the RCMP spelling out how a Canadian was pilfering extremely sensitive information, including highly classified U.S. material.

The RCMP had to start its own investigation of Delisle almost from scratch. The delay alarmed and frustrated Washington as the geyser of secrets continued to spew.

At one point the Americans, eager to see Delisle in handcuffs, sketched out a Plan B: luring the Canadian officer to the U.S. and arresting him themselves, perhaps during a stop-over en route to a Caribbean vacation.

The RCMP and CSIS are supposed to be able to “seamlessly hand off cases back and forth between them,” said intelligence historian Wesley Wark, a visiting professor at the University of Ottawa’s graduate school of public and international affairs.

He said “it is deeply troubling” if the system indeed broke down in the Delisle case over CSIS’s refusal to share its files or to bring the RCMP in at an early stage.

“I think that’s scandalous, in fact,” said Wark, who served as an expert witness at Delisle’s sentencing. “And it would be a matter, I think, for a judicial inquiry or certainly a serious parliamentary investigation.”

According to Delisle’s lawyer, it also flags important legal concerns about the government’s obligation to disclose all of the evidence against someone charged with breaching national security.

An investigation by The Canadian Press, drawing on multiple sources familiar with the Delisle case, reveals that CSIS was deeply involved in the file before the Mounties entered the picture. Several sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

The RCMP arrested Delisle, now 42, on Jan. 13, 2012, for violating the Security of Information Act. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison last February. Delisle had given secret material to Russia in exchange for upward of $110,000 over a period of more than four years.

Until now the official story – as revealed through the court record – has suggested the FBI first tipped Canadian authorities to Delisle’s relationship with the Russians on Dec. 2, 2011, via the letter to the RCMP.

But the story actually begins months earlier.

Senior CSIS officials were called to Washington where U.S. security personnel told them a navy officer in Halifax was receiving cash transfers from Russian agents. One of the paymasters was Mary Larkin, a known pseudonym used by Russian intelligence in running a U.S. spy ring – busted by the FBI in 2010 – that included the glamorous Anna Chapman and several others.

CSIS soon obtained court approval to begin electronic surveillance of Delisle.

Despondent over his failed marriage and nursing financial woes, Delisle decided in 2007 to commit “professional suicide,” as he would later put it, by walking into the Russian embassy in Ottawa and volunteering to offer up some of western intelligence’s most valuable secrets.

He spied for the Russians while working in sensitive posts at National Defence headquarters, including the military’s nerve centre, the Strategic Joint Staff, and at the office of the Chief of Defence Intelligence.

As a sub-lieutenant at the Trinity intelligence centre in Halifax, Delisle had access to a data bank of classified secrets shared by the Five Eyes community – Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

It soon became clear to CSIS that Delisle was handing over a great deal of highly sensitive material originating from the United States.

“The information he gave up caused grave damage – grave damage – to the U.S.,” said one source.

“We’re getting into the category of sources, techniques and methods of the most sensitive nature.”

Pressure on the Canadians began to build as American patience eroded. The FBI director and senior U.S. justice officials called counterparts in Canada.

“There was a very small subset of information provided by Delisle that impacted a couple of other of the Five Eyes, but it paled in comparison to the volume and gravity of the U.S. information he gave up,” said the source.

In mid-September, 2011, Delisle was summoned to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to meet one of his Russian handlers.

But it wasn’t Delisle’s obvious lack of a vacation tan that prompted Canada Border Services Agency officials to submit him to a secondary search upon his return. CSIS had tipped the border agency to Delisle’s pending arrival at the Halifax airport in a bid to gather more evidence for the case against him.

During its search, the border agency discovered a Rio hotel receipt, more than $6,500 in cash – most of it new $100 American bills – and pre-paid credit cards.

After reviewing the case, CSIS lawyers said handing the spy service’s file to the RCMP would pose the risk that both U.S. and Canadian secrets – investigative sources and methods – might be disclosed in criminal court as part of the requirement to ensure a fair trial.

During a meeting in Ottawa, CSIS, the FBI and RCMP discussed the possibility of arresting Delisle in the United States during an airport stopover, or by arranging a U.S. military secondment or training course for him. However, it was decided jointly that the FBI would send a letter to the RCMP about the case.

It almost “shocks the conscience” that an American agency had to formally notify the Mounties, said a source who spoke out of concern about what they see as systemic flaws in Canada’s intelligence apparatus that allowed Delisle to peddle secrets longer than necessary.

“CSIS had already made the case. But RCMP had to do it again.”

As the Mounties investigated, the junior intelligence officer continued to pass information to the Russians that was “as damaging or more damaging” than earlier packages uncovered during the CSIS probe, one source said.

Another source with knowledge of the investigation said ideally the Canadian Forces would have detected Delisle’s actions and told CSIS.

“CSIS should have helped them [the Forces] to investigate a little bit more,” said the source. “Eventually when they collected enough evidence, we say, ‘We’ve got a criminal case here,’ then we go to the RCMP and we let the RCMP prepare the criminal case from the investigation.”

Delisle’s lawyer, Mike Taylor, said he knew nothing of a prequel investigation by CSIS and found the revelation “disturbing,” adding that it raises serious questions about whether his client’s charter rights were violated, and how the Canadian government pursues national security investigations.

“I’ve always had concerns about what was going on behind the scenes,” Taylor said in an interview.

The existence of the spy service investigation and the resulting document trail should have been part of the court record, Taylor said, and had he known about them it would have affected the advice given to his client.

In the end, Delisle might still have pleaded guilty, Taylor said, but nevertheless he should have been given the “opportunity to chase back and determine whether information was obtained unlawfully.”

For example, the search conducted by border agents upon Delisle’s return from Brazil could have been deemed “tainted,” unreasonable and “subject to exclusion” in light of the CSIS investigation, he said.

“It certainly could have changed the timing [of Delisle’s response] because he might not have been so quick to go ahead and say, ‘OK, look, I’m done.’” There is no possibility of an appeal and Taylor said he understands there’s little public sympathy for someone who has admitted to selling out his country, but he argues the government has a legal obligation to disclose everything it knows to an accused.

“They cannot be allowed to operate under that kind of a covert veil,” Taylor said. “The potential for civil rights violations is huge.”

CSIS was created in 1984 from the ashes of the old RCMP Security Service, which was disbanded following a series of headline-grabbing scandals. The new spy service would gather information and advise the federal government of security threats, but have no arrest powers.

It has meant that CSIS must hand over a case to the RCMP or work in parallel with the Mounties, then pass along the file when it comes time to take suspected spies or terrorists into custody.

But it hasn’t always gone smoothly.

The infamous case of the 1985 Air India airliner bombing is often cited as the most obvious failure to forge a well-oiled working relationship between the agencies.

Steps have been taken in recent years to encourage closer co-operation between CSIS and the RCMP.

In response to recommendations of a 2010 federal inquiry report on the Air India attack, the Conservative government began reviewing the process of disclosure in court proceedings involving national security.

The RCMP and CSIS are “developing best practices to ensure that the disclosure of intelligence in the context of criminal investigations occurs in the most expeditious and efficient manner,” said a federal update on the process last July.

At a Senate committee hearing in February, then-CSIS director Dick Fadden expressed confidence in the procedures.

“With the RCMP, we have developed a policy and practice called ‘one vision,’” Fadden said. “We put all this in a document with illustrations from case law that the courts have developed. My sense is that it is working pretty well.”

Both CSIS and the RCMP had no comment on the spy service’s involvement in the Delisle file. The FBI did not respond to a request to discuss the case, and it would not release any information in response to a Freedom of Information Act application, citing Delisle’s privacy rights.

The Canadian Press asked Fadden after the February committee hearing about the timing of CSIS’s awareness of the Delisle case, but he declined to answer. Fadden recently became deputy minister of defence.

Michel Coulombe, CSIS’s deputy director of operations, refused to speak with the news agency. He has since become the spy agency’s interim director.

I'll wait for the legal and security/intelligence experts to comment.

 

[Scoobie Newbie]

Does CSIS not have power of arrest?

 

[PuckChaser]

Does CSIS not have power of arrest?

I don't think they're the Secret Police. They appear to be strictly investigative, and the RCMP does the handcuffing.

 

[Sig_Des]

Does CSIS not have power of arrest?

Nope

http://www.csis-scrs.gc.ca/bts/fq-eng.asp#bm10b

While life at CSIS has its moments, the work of intelligence officers bears little resemblance to how it is portrayed on television. The Border, for example, suggests that CSIS can arrest or detain people. CSIS, in fact, does not have the power to do either. The same show suggests CSIS can arbitrarily raid or seize material. CSIS requires warrants to conduct any such intrusive activities. Likewise, CSIS has extremely strict protocols governing how it shares information with other countries and how that information can be used. These protocols have been reviewed by both the SIRC and the Arar Commission of Inquiry.

 

[cupper]

When the Government broke up the so called "Dirty Tricks" squad back in the 70's and the subsequent separation of the Espionage /  Counter Espionage functions from the RCMP mandate, it was determined that the new entity that was to become CSIS should not be given powers of arrest.

When CSIS had developed a case sufficiently for carrying out an arrest, the file would be given or shared with the RCMP in order to carry out the arrest.

The other thing to remember is that not all of CSIS's investigative work will end in an arrest.