I think the chair said earlier, about the work of the committee, that all of our reports have been unanimous. They are, as indicated, in some ways multipartisan, but in other ways non-partisan.
One thing that I believe is such a strength of the committee is the fact that we do have cognitive diversity around the table. We have discussions that push and pull and think about it from this or that perspective. It's not just on the basis of political ideology; it's on the basis of backgrounds and the experience we bring. We've had people from the RCMP, from military and from provincial government. We have a range of individuals whose experience comes to bear in our consideration of items. I think that's very important.
The chair indicated that there has never been a time when the Prime Minister, the PMO or anyone weighed in on our work. I will echo that. I'll go further with him and say suggestions of that sort are patently false. There is no basis for that kind of a suggestion to be made because we protect ourselves and the nature of our work. As well, we've developed a competency that people respect and they respect our work. It's been very much a good exchange.
Before I was appointed to the Senate a number of years ago, I was a member of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, which was the predecessor to NSIRA. At that point in time, we were only reviewing CSIS. I do remember that we made recommendations about the need for a more broad review, which led to NSIRA. It was active discussion between members of our committee and people in the PMO and PCO of the day about establishing a committee of parliamentarians or parliamentary committee. We weren't precise on that at that point in time.
What is interesting is that we all had some hesitancy about whether a group of multipartisan or non-partisan parliamentarians would come together and be able to work in a way that respected all the secrecy requirements, understanding the nature of national security and the damage that can be done. Having lived through those debates and up to this point in time, I personally have an incredible confidence in the work that's being done there and a great respect for the individuals who put on their hat when they go into the House of Commons or into the Senate and take off that hat when they come into our committee for discussion. I think it serves Canadians well.
I think it serves parliamentarians well when they look at the result of it because it isn't one-sided. It is a product of good, deliberative discussion and collaboration in coming up with our recommendations.