Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Mr. McGuinty, Senator Lankin and others for being here today. I especially thank you for the work you do on NSICOP.
It's been in the news a lot lately. I'm so privileged and proud that I was on this committee when we created NSICOP, as well as NSIRA. At the time, Canada was late to the game in creating this committee. I think at the time the U.K. had had a committee similar to ours for about 20 years. That's why we said we'd review it in five years, because we wanted to see how it was working and how it evolved. I think my friend's math was a little off—it's not been seven years, but about five and a half. I'm disappointed to hear about the cabinet confidences, because that is something we discussed at the time of the creation of the committee.
You were talking about top-secret interpreters. I think one of the things that have been missed in the conversation generally about NSICOP is that it's not “top secret” because you're not wanting to be transparent with Canadians. Can you maybe explain why you have a top-secret clearance, and why you're meeting in a different location? Why is that critical to the work you do?