Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I'd like to thank the two witnesses for being with us this evening, and also to thank them both for their service to Canada in the various capacities they have both held over the years.
In my first line of questioning, I would like to start with Mr. German.
I want to talk to you a little bit about something we've been hearing over the course of the last couple of meetings with respect to not having a clear understanding by politicians of what intelligence is and, from the point of view of intelligence experts, what politics is like.
When I look through the order in council dated April 28, 2017, there were changes made to the national security adviser title, then held by Daniel Jean, to include “intelligence”. The reason I'm bringing this up is that, in the federal election of 2015, we saw a change in posture with respect to understanding the importance of cybersecurity and the importance of intelligence, and what we were hearing from our partners in the Five Eyes.
I wanted to get a sense from you.... In the special rapporteur report, the Right Honourable David Johnston mentions the need to improve the way information is shared between our security agencies and the government. Would you elaborate a little bit on the importance of the intelligence people understanding what we do for a living, and the importance of us understanding what intelligence community does?