Thank you for the question.
We certainly heard that from several senior and high-ranking witnesses.
We have excellent investigators in Canada, and our reputation is admirable from the operational standpoint. On the other hand, in matters of policy, we've been shooting ourselves in the foot, by which I mean that we've been taking far too long to make certain decisions.
Let's look at the Huawei saga.
Our allies in the Five Eyes came to a decision relatively quickly, while Canada lagged far behind. This ambivalence supports the evidence given here to the effect that since the 1990s, there has been talk of an operation in the United States called Dragon Lord. The purpose of the operation was to monitor political activities and actions in Canada, and we were suspected of being influenced, having been infiltrated, or having failed to take appropriate steps to protect the Five Eyes alliance, and ultimately, Canadian security. Unfortunately, events appear to be consistent with these views.
As early as the 1990s, if allies like the United States, our closest ally, were concerned about certain decisions, they no doubt saw exactly what I saw in my time as chief of the Asia-Pacific unit, and I too tried to alert people. But we were asked to destroy the report rather than take it seriously.
These problems continued, and even increased over the years, and we were unable to see the growing audacity of what certain countries were doing, especially China, which were spending much more time interfering at all levels, whether economic, academic, political and even in the communities.