Mr. Chair, and members of Parliament, thank you very much for the invitation this afternoon to speak on global threats from the defence intelligence perspective.
Prior to addressing the topic, I'd like to briefly describe my dual role as commander of Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, or CFINTCOM, and as chief of defence intelligence. As commander of CFINTCOM, I exercise command and control over the members of the Canadian Armed Forces who work in the command, and I serve as a senior military intelligence adviser to the chief of the defence staff. As chief of defence intelligence, I am directly accountable to the deputy minister and CDS for providing oversight and policy direction to the defence intelligence enterprise to ensure its continued effectiveness, responsiveness and accountability.
Defence intelligence leverages a variety of sources to support strategic decision-makers during events such as the current situation in Ukraine, and to support deployed operations such as those in the Middle East, Latvia and everywhere else around the world where the Canadian Forces are deployed. Additionally, our relationships with allies are critical to our success. Defence intelligence activities are enabled, in large part, by collaboration with domestic and international partners.
Now, to address the topic of global threats to Canada and North America, we currently face a broad range of challenges.
Great power rivalry has once again emerged as the central feature of the international strategic environment, with a revisionist and resurgent Russia and a powerful China seeking to reshape the rules-based international order in ways that support their individual national interests and their authoritarian world views. Increasingly, we have witnessed China and Russia enhancing their strategic co-operation in the diplomatic, economic and military spheres. This co-operation is occurring in many regions around the world, including the Arctic.
Beyond China and Russia, we have seen that there is a mutually reinforcing relationship between weak governance in fragile states, violent extremism and irregular migration flows, and the resultant situations are increasingly aggravated by the impacts of climate change. This will exacerbate instability in many regions of the world over the coming years.
At home, extreme weather-related events will become more severe and more frequent, including droughts, floods and fires, putting more pressure on federal resources, including, as the admiral said, the Canadian Armed Forces.
As we have all witnessed over the last two years, the emergence of new pathogens, coupled with the threat of pandemics, could also further exacerbate political, social and economic instabilities.
Cyber-threats are growing, and offensive cyber programs have been used by states to target Canadian assets, including the financial sector, critical infrastructure and democratic institutions via influence activities and propaganda, or in other words, information warfare.
Finally, state and non-state actors are investing in military technologies and weapons systems. Notably, they are increasingly pursuing their agendas using hybrid methods in the “grey zone” that exists just below the threshold of armed conflict, including foreign influence, cyber and espionage operations.
Mr. Chair, this concludes my presentation. Thank you again for the opportunity.
I look forward to questions.