—could use some discussion.
In the case of the United States, for example, these reports are prepared, as I said earlier, with public consumption in mind. We have not been preparing such reports in Canada. Indeed, our preference in the use of our officers' limited time at our missions abroad is to prepare these confidential reports for the government for use in advising and in preparing policy.
At the end of the day, one might think—and I can understand why many people do think—that these documents should or could be made available. The fact is that they are entirely different in terms of their purpose. They are different in terms of the source material. They are documents that will have the Government of Canada's imprimatur on them, so they are seen to be official opinions and views of the Government of Canada. That is an entirely different type of situation from what you get with respect to other reports; again, maybe I can refer to the American reports, which are drafted at source to be for public consumption.
When we do get these reports from our own people, we need to look at them carefully before we make them public to ensure we are not releasing information that might jeopardize a source. Sometimes those sources might well be put at risk by that. Sometimes even just what might seem to be an innocuous reference in a report can, by—