I believe it is important and healthy that we have public conversations about matters of national security. It is important that Canadians are made aware of the global security environment. I would like to start there, because it is very much my view that the threats to Canadian national security are completely connected to the global security environment. It is important for officials--and, obviously, elected officials--to talk about those vulnerabilities and risks.
This is done in many other countries. Members of the committee might be aware that just about two months ago, before I left my position, the head of the U.K. intelligence service gave a public speech outlining all the vulnerabilities and threats to the U.K.'s national security. This is done quite frequently in other countries--not to speak, of course, of the United States right next door to us, where Congress gets to hear fairly regularly about threats to national security.
