Juno News - June 07, 2025


Sam Cooper exposes Trudeau Government’s interference in CSIS operation


Episode Stats

Length

4 minutes

Words per Minute

149.39272

Word Count

615

Sentence Count

40


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This story begins in secrecy.
00:00:02.000 It's the kind of story you're not supposed to hear about.
00:00:05.000 Because in a functioning democracy, intelligence services are supposed to operate independently from the Prime Minister.
00:00:11.000 This was a classified foreign operation.
00:00:14.000 Canadian intelligence officers in the field, risking their lives.
00:00:18.000 A mission coordinated with our closest allies, aimed at stopping a serious threat to national security.
00:00:24.000 And then, without warning, it was halted.
00:00:27.000 Not by the intelligence agency leading the operation, not by the minister responsible for public safety,
00:00:32.000 but, as a federal watchdog now reveals, by political actors surrounding then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
00:00:39.000 According to a new report from the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, or NSIRA,
00:00:45.000 the order to stop this mission didn't follow Canada's national security laws.
00:00:49.000 It bypassed the chain of command, it endangered Canadian officers,
00:00:52.000 and it damaged our standing with our Five Eyes international partners.
00:00:56.000 When a live CSIS operation is suddenly halted, especially one overseas with an allied partner,
00:01:02.000 the risks on the ground are immediate and serious.
00:01:05.000 Operatives can be exposed, mission plans collapse, allies may feel blindsided.
00:01:11.000 And according to the report, that's exactly what happened.
00:01:13.000 Canadian personnel were put in danger, and Canada's international reputation was harmed.
00:01:19.000 We don't know where the operation took place.
00:01:22.000 Was it counter-terrorism in the Middle East, tied to foreign interference abroad?
00:01:26.000 The details are redacted.
00:01:28.000 But what we do know is this, the decision to shut it down didn't come from the CSIS director,
00:01:33.000 or the Public Safety Minister, the lawful channels.
00:01:36.000 It came from the Prime Minister's National Security Advisor.
00:01:40.000 That is an unlawful channel, and really, it's repeating a pattern interference that exists.
00:01:47.000 A former CSIS senior operator with experience abroad and in domestic operations told me,
00:01:53.000 clearly, this is interference from the Prime Minister's office.
00:01:57.000 This report is carefully redacted, and we're sharing it here with you today because of how important the stakes are.
00:02:04.000 What's left visible in this report illustrates a disturbing story of liberal mismanagement of the highest order.
00:02:11.000 NSIRA found that the decision to halt this active CSIS operation originated from political-level discussions,
00:02:19.000 specifically from the National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the then Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau,
00:02:25.000 who issued instructions directly to the CSIS director.
00:02:29.000 For those unfamiliar with the law, this is extremely unusual.
00:02:34.000 There was no legal directive from the Minister of Public Safety as required by the CSIS Act.
00:02:39.000 In other words, politicians stepped in to a live operation without authority,
00:02:44.000 and they made a call that was not theirs to make.
00:02:48.000 The question is why, and what interest did Justin Trudeau have in stopping this operation?
00:02:54.000 The consequences weren't just bureaucratic. They were operational, personal, and dangerous.
00:03:01.000 NSIRA's report says that the CSIS team, actually on the ground, felt, quote, abandoned.
00:03:08.000 They believed the silence from government itself was a decision, and they were forced to plan alternative actions.
00:03:14.000 Not to complete the mission, but to survive it.
00:03:17.000 That's how serious this was.
00:03:19.000 In fact, CSIS leadership sounded the alarm in real time.
00:03:22.000 One email from the director of CSIS warned senior security officials that, quote,
00:03:27.000 time is quickly running out, and the situation is getting much more tense on the ground.
00:03:32.000 He pleaded for a decision, any decision to be made.
00:03:37.000 But that decision had already been made, not legally, not properly, politically.
00:03:41.000 Let's be clear.
00:03:42.000 This was out-of-order interference in a high-stakes intelligence mission,
00:03:47.000 one involving Canada's closest foreign partners.
00:03:50.000 NSIRA concluded that this interference created, quote,
00:03:54.000 unnecessary danger for the CSIS team and caused, quote,
00:03:57.000 harm to Canada's international reputation.
00:04:00.000 In plain terms, our allies may no longer trust Canada the way they used to.